Photoelectron circular dichroism of O 1$s$-photoelectrons of uniaxially oriented trifluoromethyloxirane: Energy dependence and sensitivity to molecular configuration

TL;DR

This study investigates the energy-dependent photoelectron circular dichroism of trifluoromethyloxirane, combining experimental synchrotron measurements with theoretical calculations to understand how molecular configuration influences chiral electron emission.

Contribution

It provides new experimental and theoretical insights into PECD of trifluoromethyloxirane, highlighting the effects of molecular substitution on chiral electron response at different energies.

Findings

PECD varies with photoelectron energy and molecular orientation.

Substitution of methyl with trifluoromethyl affects chiral response.

Results align with and extend previous studies on similar molecules.

Abstract

The photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) of the O 1s-photoelectrons of trifluoromethyloxirane(TFMOx) is studied experimentally and theoretically for different photoelectron kinetic energies. The experiments were performed employing circularly polarized synchrotron radiation and coincidentelectron and fragment ion detection using Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy. The corresponding calculations were performed by means of the Single Center method within the relaxed-core Hartree-Fock approximation. We concentrate on the energy dependence of the differential PECD of uniaxially oriented TFMOx molecules, which is accessible through the employed coincident detection. We also compare results for differential PECD of TFMOx to those obtained for the equivalent fragmentation channel and similar photoelectron kinetic energy of methyloxirane (MOx), studied in our previous work. Thereby, we investigate the influence of the substitution of the methyl-group by the trifluoromethyl-group at the chiral center on the molecular chiral response. Finally, the presently obtained angular distribution parameters are compared to those available in literature.