Climbing the rotational ladder to chirality

Abstract

Molecular chirality is conventionally understood as space-inversion-symmetry breaking in the equilibrium structure of molecules. Less well known is that achiral molecules can be made chiral through extreme rotational excitation. Here, we theoretically demonstrate a clear strategy for generating rotationally-induced chirality (RIC): An optical centrifuge rotationally excites the phosphine molecule (PH${}_3$) into chiral cluster states that correspond to clockwise ($R$-enantiomer) or anticlockwise ($L$-enantiomer) rotation about axes almost coinciding with single P-H bonds. Application of a strong dc electric field during the centrifuge pulse favors the production of one rotating enantiomeric form over the other, creating dynamically chiral molecules with $permanently$ oriented rotational angular momentum. This essential step toward characterizing RIC promises a fresh perspective on chirality as a fundamental aspect of nature.

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Locally and globally chiral fields for ultimate control of chiral light matter interaction
• Molecular movie of ultrafast coherent rotational dynamics
• Ultrafast chirality: the road to efficient chiral measurements
• Controlled enantioselective orientation of chiral molecules with an optical centrifuge
• Field-induced diastereomers for chiral separation
• Imprinting chirality on atoms using synthetic chiral light fields
• The high-temperature rotation-vibration spectrum and rotational clustering of silylene (SiH${}_2$)
• Rotation of polarization of light propagating through a gas of molecular super-rotors
• Coherent Control of the Rotation Axis of Molecular Superrotors
• Quantum control of ro-vibrational dynamics and application to light-induced molecular chirality
• Controlling rotation in the molecular-frame with an optical centrifuge
• Time-resolving the UV-initiated photodissociation dynamics of OCS
• Phase-matched locally chiral light for global control of chiral light-matter interaction
• Polarization of chirality