Enantiomer superpositions from matter-wave interference of chiral molecules

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how matter-wave interferometry can create superpositions of chiral molecules' enantiomers, enabling quantum sensing of fundamental forces and interactions related to molecular handedness.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate enantiomer superpositions via matter-wave diffraction and proposes applications in sensing parity-violating forces and resolving Hund's paradox.

Findings

Identification of [4]-helicene derivatives as suitable candidates

Proposal of a setup for enantiomer-dependent force sensing

Analysis of tunnelling dynamics and phase effects

Abstract

Molecular matter-wave interferometry enables novel strategies for manipulating the internal mechanical motion of complex molecules. Here, we show how chiral molecules can be prepared in a quantum superposition of two enantiomers by far-field matter-wave diffraction and how the resulting tunnelling dynamics can be observed. We determine the impact of ro-vibrational phase averaging and propose a setup for sensing enantiomer-dependent forces, parity-violating weak interactions, and environment-induced superselection of handedness, as suggested to resolve Hund's paradox. Using ab-initio tunnelling calculations, we identify [4]-helicene derivatives as promising candidates to implement the proposal with state-of-the-art techniques. This work opens the door for quantum sensing and metrology with chiral molecules.