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Register a new userTheoretical description of circular dichroism in photoelectron angular distributions of randomly oriented chiral molecules after multi-photon photoionization
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Added by
Ruben Esteban Goetz
Publication date
2016
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Photoelectron circular dichroism refers to the forward/backward asymmetry in the photoelectron angular distribution with respect to the propagation axis of circularly polarized light. It has recently been demonstrated in femtosecond multi-photon photoionization experiments with randomly oriented camphor and fenchone molecules [C. Lux et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51, 5001 (2012);C. S. Lehmann et al., J. Chem. Phys. 139, 234307 (2013)]. A theoretical framework describing this process as (2+1) resonantly enhanced multi-photon ionization is constructed, which consists of two-photon photoselection from randomly oriented molecules and successive one-photon ionisation of the photoselected molecules. It combines perturbation theory for the light-matter interaction with ab initio calculations for the two-photon absorption and a single-center expansion of the photoelectron wavefunction in terms of hydrogenic continuum functions. It is verified that the model correctly reproduces the basic symmetry behavior expected under exchange of handedness and light helicity. When applied it to fenchone and camphor, semi-quantitative agreement with the experimental data is found, for which a sufficient d wave character of the electronically excited intermediate state is crucial.
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Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and fundamental in science, from particle physics to metamaterials.The most established technique of chiral discrimination - photoabsorption circular dichroism - relies on the magnetic properties of a chiral medium and yields an extremely weak chiral response. We propose and demonstrate a new, orders of magnitude more sensitive type of circular dichroism in neutral molecules: photoexitation circular dichroism. It does not rely on weak magnetic effects, but takes advantage of the coherent helical motion of bound electrons excited by ultrashort circularly polarized light. It results in an ultrafast chiral response and the efficient excitation of a macroscopic chiral density in an initially isotropic ensemble of randomly oriented chiral molecules. We probe this excitation without the aid of further chiral interactions using linearly polarized laser pulses. Our time-resolved study of vibronic chiral dynamics opens a way to the efficient initiation, control and monitoring of chiral chemical change in neutral molecules at the level of electrons.
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