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arXiv:1105.5922 · Physical Review A

Probing molecular chirality by coherent optical absorption spectra

W. Z. Jia, L. F. Wei

Published Nov 28, 2011• 37 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose an approach to sensitively probe the chirality of molecules by measuring their coherent optical-absorption spectra. It is shown that quantum dynamics of the cyclic three-level chiral molecules driven by appropriately designed external fields is total-phase dependent. This will result in chirality-dependent absorption spectra for the probe field. As a consequence, the charality-dependent information in the spectra (such as the locations and relative heights of the characteristic absorption peaks) can be utilized to identify molecular chirality and determinate enantiomer excess (i.e., the percentages of different enantiomers). The feasibility of the proposal with chiral molecules confined in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber is also discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.053849

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We propose an approach to sensitively probe the chirality of molecules by measuring their coherent optical-absorption spectra. It is shown that quantum dynamics of the cyclic three-level chiral molecules driven by appropriately designed external fields is total-phase dependent. This will result in chirality-dependent absorption spectra for the probe field. As a consequence, the charality-dependent information in the spectra (such as the locations and relative heights of the characteristic absorption peaks) can be utilized to identify molecular chirality and determinate enantiomer excess (i.e., the percentages of different enantiomers). The feasibility of the proposal with chiral molecules confined in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber is also discussed.
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Determination of enantiomeric excess is important and remains challenging. We propose theoretically a spectroscopic method for this issue based on the chirality-dependent ac Stark effects in cyclic three-level models under the three-photon resonance condition. The enantiomeric excess of the chiral mixture is determined by comparing the amplitudes of the two ac Stark peaks chosen in the Fourier transform spectrum of the induced polarizations, which are (approximately) proportional to the number of molecules of the two enantiomers, respectively. In contrast to current spectroscopic methods based on the interference between the electric and (usually weak) magnetic dipole transition moments and/or with the need for enantiopure samples, our method involves only electric dipole transitions and does not require the enantiopure samples. Therefore, it will give strong chiral signals and can be applied to the determination of enantiomeric excess for chiral molecules whose enantiopure samples are still challenging to achieve.
The optical bistability (OB) and multistability (OM) in chiral molecules are investigated by placing the sample into a unidirectional ring cavity. Because of broken mirror symmetry of the effective potential, the chiral molecules have a cyclic three-level Δ-configuration structure, in which one- and two-photon transitions can coexist. We find that the OB is achievable in this system on exact one-, two- and three-photon resonance conditions but absent in the three-level Λ-type system under the two-photon resonance. Moreover, the OM and the switching between OB and OM are also realized by choosing parameters properly. Interestingly, the left- and right-handed chiral molecules exhibit different bistable and multistable behaviors. It is shown that the threshold intensity of OB is strongly dependent on the percentage of the two enantiomers in the mixture. This provides an effective approach to probe molecular chirality and to determine enantiomer excess, which may find potential application in organic chemistry, pharmacology, biochemistry, etc..
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We propose an enantiodetection method of chiral molecules in a cavity with an external drive. The chiral molecules are coupled with a quantized cavity field and two classical light fields to form the cyclic three-level systems. The chirality-dependent cavity-assisted three-photon process in the three-level systems leads to the generation of intracavity photons. Simultaneously, the drive field also results in a chirality-independent process of the generation of intracavity photons. Based on the interference between the intracavity photons generated from these two processes, one can detect the enantiomeric excess of chiral mixture via monitoring the transmission rate of the drive field. It is also shown that our method can work in the single-molecule weak-coupling region and in the absence of additional enantiopure samples. These advantages make it offer promising applications in enantiodetection of chiral molecules.
We explore the spatial enantioseparation of gaseous chiral molecules for the cyclic three-level systems coupled with three electromagnetic fields. Due to molecular rotations, the specific requirements of the polarization directions of the three electromagnetic fields lead to the space-dependent part of the overall phase of the coupling strengths. Thus, the overall phase of the coupling strengths, which differs with $\ensuremath{\pi}$ for the enantiomers in the cyclic three-level model of chiral molecules, varies intensely in the length scale of the typical wavelength of the applied electromagnetic fields. Under the induced gauge potentials resulting from the space-dependent part of the overall phase and the space-dependent intensities of coupling strengths, we further show spatial enantioseparation for typical parameters of gaseous chiral molecules.