Selective Orientation of Chiral Molecules by Laser Fields with Twisted Polarization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a purely optical technique using twisted laser polarization to selectively orient chiral molecules, demonstrating its effectiveness across various molecules and laser configurations.

Contribution

It presents a novel, versatile optical method for enantioselective molecular orientation using twisted laser fields, applicable to different molecules and laser setups.

Findings

Effective orientation of chiral molecules demonstrated

Method works with multiple laser configurations

Applicable to molecules of varying complexity

Abstract

We explore a pure optical method for enantioselective orientation of chiral molecules by means of laser fields with twisted polarization. Several field implementations are considered, including a pair of delayed cross-polarized laser pulses, an optical centrifuge, and polarization shaped pulses. The underlying classical orientation mechanism common for all these fields is discussed, and its operation is demonstrated for a range of chiral molecules of various complexity: hydrogen thioperoxide (${\rm HSOH}$), propylene oxide (${\rm CH_{3}CHCH_{2}O}$) and ethyl oxirane (${\rm CH_{3}CH_{2}CHCH_{2}O}$). The presented results demonstrate generality, versatility and robustness of this optical method for manipulating molecular enantiomers in the gas phase.