Observation of persistent orientation of chiral molecules by laser field with twisted polarization

Abstract

Molecular chirality is an omnipresent phenomenon of fundamental significance in physics, chemistry and biology. For this reason, search for novel techniques for enantioselective control, detection and separation of chiral molecules is of particular importance. It has been recently predicted that laser fields with twisted polarization may induce persistent enantioselective field-free orientation of chiral molecules. Here we report the first experimental observation of this phenomenon using propylene oxide molecules ($\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_3\mathrm{CHC}{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$, or PPO) spun by an optical centrifuge - a laser pulse, whose linear polarization undergoes an accelerated rotation around its propagation direction. We show that PPO molecules remain oriented on a time scale exceeding the duration of the centrifuge pulse by several orders of magnitude. The demonstrated long-time field-free enantioselective orientation opens new avenues for optical manipulation, discrimination, and, potentially, separation of molecular enantiomers.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

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• Molecular spinning by a chiral train of short laser pulses
• Laser induced persistent orientation of chiral molecules
• Electric Deflection of Rotating Molecules
• Deflection of Rotating Symmetric Molecules by Inhomogeneous Fields

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Ultrafast chirality: the road to efficient chiral measurements
• Complete Controllability Despite Degeneracy: Quantum Control of Enantiomer-Specific State Transfer in Chiral Molecules
• Optimal three-state field-free molecular orientation with terahertz pulses
• Long-lasting Molecular Orientation Induced by a Single Terahertz Pulse
• Probing molecular chirality via laser-induced electronic fluxes
• Imaging charge-migration in chiral molecules using time-resolved x-ray diffraction
• Enantioselective Orientation of Chiral Molecules Induced by Terahertz Pulses with Twisted Polarization
• Three Dimensional Orientation of Complex Molecules Excited by Two-Color Femtosecond Pulses
• Rational pulse design for enantiomer-selective microwave three-wave mixing
• Echo-enhanced molecular orientation at high temperatures
• Enantioselective chiral orientation induced by a combination of a long and a short laser pulse
• Long-Lasting Orientation of Symmetric-top Molecules Excited by Two-Color Femtosecond Pulses
• Optimal Selective Orientation of Chiral Molecules Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses
• Orientation Echoes via Concerted Terahertz and Near-IR excitation
• Ionization-induced Long-lasting Orientation of Symmetric-top Molecules