Speaker
Description
Chiral molecules play a fundamental role in a large variety of biological and chemical processes and their reactions may differ vastly for different enantiomers. Cold, polyatomic molecules offer a plethora of possibilities to test fundamental physics, for quantum control, and for studies of molecular structure, dynamics and cold chemistry. In our experiments we combine buffer gas cooling with modern microwave spectroscopy techniques, where we can apply microwave radiation of arbitrary polarization. This has recently allowed us to demonstrate enantiomer-specific rotational state transfer of chiral molecules [1]. This new technique is building on previous experiments on sensitive chiral analysis via microwave three-wave mixing [2]. The method selectively promotes either left or right handed chiral molecules to a higher rotational state by phase-controlled microwave pulses that drive electric-dipole allowed rotational transitions. It has the potential to pave the way to future experiments with chiral molecules both to test fundamental physical effects such as parity violation effects as well as applications in chemical physics. I will discuss current experimental progress as well as future perspectives.
References
[1] S. Eibenberger, J. Doyle, and D. Patterson. Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 123002 (2017).
[2] G. K. Drayna, K. Wang, C. Hallas, S. Domingos, S. Eibenberger, J. M. Doyle, D. Patterson. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55, 4957 (2016).
[3] D. Patterson, M. Schnell, and J. M. Doyle. Nature 497, 475–477 (2013).
