Enantiomer superpositions from matter-wave interference of chiral molecules

Abstract

Molecular matter-wave interferometry enables novel strategies for manipulating the internal mechanical motion of complex molecules. Here, we show how chiral molecules can be prepared in a quantum superposition of two enantiomers by far-field matter-wave diffraction and how the resulting tunnelling dynamics can be observed. We determine the impact of ro-vibrational phase averaging and propose a setup for sensing enantiomer-dependent forces, parity-violating weak interactions, and environment-induced superselection of handedness, as suggested to resolve Hund's paradox. Using ab-initio tunnelling calculations, we identify [4]-helicene derivatives as promising candidates to implement the proposal with state-of-the-art techniques. This work opens the door for quantum sensing and metrology with chiral molecules.

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Simultaneous Enantiomer-Resolved Ramsey Spectroscopy Scheme for Chiral Molecules
• Optical-pumping enantio-conversion of chiral mixtures in presence of tunneling between chiral states