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Physica Scripta

Chirality-dependent optical dipole potential

Seyedeh Hamideh Kazemi, Mohammad Mahmoudi

Published Nov 14, 2019• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we show the possibility of spatially separating two opposite enantiomers of chiral molecules, using an optical dipole potential. Because of the broken mirror symmetry of effective potential, chiral molecules have a cyclic three-level Δ-configuration structure. Irradiation of these molecules with three femtosecond laser pulses gives rise to an enantiomer-dependent optical force. Interestingly, considerable differences in the direction of the force felt by the enantiomers have been shown to cause the chirality-dependent optical dipole potential which stably captures only one enantiomeric form. Moreover, the proposed scheme provides a complete control over what kind of molecules, the left- or right-handed ones, can be selectively trapped. Note that we have analyzed the optical force, and specifically the trapping effect, by considering the full interaction Hamiltonian, including both rotating and counter-rotating terms.

DOI
10.1088/1402-4896/ab57a1

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Abstract In this paper, we show the possibility of spatially separating two opposite enantiomers of chiral molecules, using an optical dipole potential. Because of the broken mirror symmetry of effective potential, chiral molecules have a cyclic three-level Δ-configuration structure. Irradiation of these molecules with three femtosecond laser pulses gives rise to an enantiomer-dependent optical force. Interestingly, considerable differences in the direction of the force felt by the enantiomers have been shown to cause the chirality-dependent optical dipole potential which stably captures only one enantiomeric form. Moreover, the proposed scheme provides a complete control over what kind of molecules, the left- or right-handed ones, can be selectively trapped. Note that we have analyzed the optical force, and specifically the trapping effect, by considering the full interaction Hamiltonian, including both rotating and counter-rotating terms.
We show that it is possible to spatially separate a ("racemic") mixture of left-handed and right-handed chiral molecules using optically induced forces. The separation is affected by the irradiation of the racemic mixture with three spatially inhomogeneous and partially overlapping cw laser fields, giving rise to enantiomeric and vibrational dependent light-induced forces. Two experimental arrangements, one consisting of placing the racemate in 1 mK optical trap, the second composed of a tightly skimmed molecular beam of the racemic mixture, forming one arm of a four-sided cavity, are numerically tested by performing quantum wave packet propagation and classical trajectories. Both the classical and the quantum simulations show an essentially perfect spatial separation between enantiomers of several vibrational states.
We investigate an efficient spatial enantioseparation method of chiral molecules in cyclic three-level systems coupled with three optical fields using optically induced forces. When the overall phase differs by π between two enantiomers, significant variations in the magnitude and direction of the optically induced forces are observed. The manipulation of the center of mass of chiral molecules in optical fields can be achieved through the induced gauge force, primarily generated from the variations in the chirality-dependent scalar potentials created by the three inhomogeneous laser fields. By appropriately configuring the system, we can completely separate the slow spatial and fast inner dynamics, making instantaneous eigenstates of the inner Hamiltonian independent of the transverse profiles of the laser beams. Compared to previous methods, which required adiabatic conditions to be satisfied, the proposed method overcomes the limitations of the adiabatic approximation by utilizing a specific system configuration. This allows for increased flexibility in the transverse profiles of the laser beams and relaxes the constraints on the velocity of chiral molecules, leading to significantly greater spatial separations achievable across a broader range of parameters.
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..
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.
We propose a method for enantio-detection of chiral molecules based on a cavity-molecule system, where the left- and right-handed molecules are coupled with a cavity and two classical light fields to form cyclic three-level models. Via the cavity-assisted three-photon processes based on the cyclic three-level model, photons are generated continuously in the cavity even in the absence of external driving to the cavity. However, the photonic fields generated from the three-photon processes of left- and right-handed molecules differ with the phase difference π according to the inherent properties of electric-dipole transition moments of enantiomers. This provides a potential way to detect the enantiomeric excess of chiral mixture by monitoring the output field of the cavity.