2019 CAP Congress / Congrès de l'ACP 2019

41 - Controlled enantioselective orientation of chiral molecules with an optical centrifuge

4 Jun 2019, 16:57

2m

SWH 9082 + AQ South-East Corner / coin sud-est (Simon Fraser University)

Poster (Non-Student) / Affiche (Non-étudiant(e)) Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, Canada / Division de la physique atomique, moléculaire et photonique, Canada (DAMOPC-DPAMPC) DAMOPC Poster Session & Student Poster Competition Finals (26) | Session d'affiches DPAMPC et finales du concours d'affiches étudiantes (26)

Speaker

Valery Milner (UBC)

Description

We initiate unidirectional rotation of chiral molecules with an optical centrifuge and detect their spatial orientation by means of Coulomb explosion imaging. We show that the centrifuge-induced orientation of one of the molecular axes in the laboratory frame depends on the relationship between the chiral handedness of the enantiomer and the direction of the laser-induced molecular rotation. The effect is reproduced in the numerical simulations of the centrifuge excitation followed by Coulomb explosion of the centrifuged molecule. The demonstrated technique offers not only an alternative way of differentiating between molecular enantiomers, but also a new approach to enantioselective manipulation of chiral molecules with light.