Probing molecular chirality on a sub-femtosecond timescale

From National Research Council Canada

DOI	Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3369
Author	Search for: Cireasa, R.; Search for: Boguslavskiy, A. E.¹; Search for: Pons, B.; Search for: Wong, M. C. H.; Search for: Descamps, D.; Search for: Petit, S.; Search for: Ruf, H.; Search for: Thiré, N.; Search for: Ferré, A.; Search for: Suarez, J.; Search for: Higuet, J.; Search for: Schmidt, B. E.; Search for: Alharbi, A. F.; Search for: Légaré, F.; Search for: Blanchet, V.; Search for: Fabre, B.; Search for: Patchkovskii, S.¹; Search for: Smirnova, O.; Search for: Mairesse, Y.; Search for: Bhardwaj, V. R.
Name affiliation	National Research Council of Canada. Security and Disruptive Technologies
Format	Text, Article
Journal title	Nature Physics
ISSN	1745-2473 1745-2481
Volume	11
Issue	8
Pages	654–658
Subject	chemical physics; high-harmonic generation; ultrafast photonics
Abstract	Chiral molecules that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, known as enantiomers, have identical chemical and physical properties unless they interact with another chiral entity, such as chiral light. Chiroptical effects arising from such interactions are used to detect enantiomers in mixtures and to induce enantioselective synthesis and catalysis. Chiroptical effects often arise from the interplay between light-induced electric- and magnetic-dipole transitions in a molecule and evolve on ultrafast electronic timescales. Here we use high-harmonic generation from a randomly oriented gas of molecules subjected to an intense laser field, to probe chiral interactions on these sub-femtosecond timescales. We show that a slight disparity in the laser-driven electron dynamics in the two enantiomers is recorded and amplified by several orders of magnitude in the harmonic spectra. Our work shows that chiroptical detection can go beyond detecting chiral structure to resolving and controlling chiral dynamics on electronic timescales.
Publication date	2015-06-29
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
Language	English
Peer reviewed	Yes
NPARC number	23001586
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Record identifier	9ad9977e-44c7-417b-8cee-7744bdb450cc
Record created	2017-03-08
Record modified	2020-04-22

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Date modified:: 2020-07-05