Two-Path Interference for Enantiomer-Selective State Transfer of Chiral Molecules

Abstract

With a microwave-regime cyclic three-state configuration, an enantiomer-selective state transfer (ESST) is carried out through the two-path interference between a direct one-photon coupling and an effective two-photon coupling. The π-phase difference in the one-photon process between two enantiomers makes the interference constructive for one enantiomer but destructive for the other. Therefore only one enantiomer is excited into a higher rotational state while the other remains in the ground state. The scheme is of flexibility in the pulse waveforms and the time order of two paths. We simulate the scheme in a sample of cyclohexylmethanol (C7H14O) molecules. Simulative results show the robust and high-fidelity ESST can be obtained when experimental concerns are considered. Finally, we propose to employ the finished ESST in implementing enantio-separation and determining enantiomeric excess.

Cyclic three-level-pulse-area theorem for enantioselective state transfer of chiral molecules

“…Three rotational states of |1 01 , |2 02 , and |2 12 are used as |A , |B , and |C . The transition frequencies between states are ω AB = 4720MHz, ω BC = 2339MHz, and ω AC = 7059MHz, and the transition dipole moments take the values of µ a = 0.4Debye, µ b = 1.2Debye and µ c = 0.8Debye [18,46]. In our simulations, we take three control fields with the Gaussian profile as follows…”

“…By taking advantage of the sign difference property of optical rotations, it has become promising to select enantiomers by designing coherent quantum optical schemes [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. The concept of the adiabatic passage techniques, such as stimulated Raman adiabatic passages [27,28] and shortcuts to adiabaticity [29,30], was proposed to generate efficient and robust detection and separation of chiral molecules [31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Enantiodiscrimination of chiral molecules via quantum correlation function

“…In general, only one enantiomeric form is biologically beneficial, while the other one is harmful or even fatal. Thus, enantiodiscrimination [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], enantiospecific state transfer [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], spatial enantioseparation [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], and enantioconversion [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] of chiral molecules have become very important and challenging tasks.…”

“…In recent years, some theoretical schemes have been proposed to implement the enantiodiscrimination [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], enantiopurification (including enantiospecific state transfer [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] and enantioconversion [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]), and spatial enantioseparation [28][29][30][31][32]35] of chiral molecules through the optical means.…”

Spatial enantioseparation of gaseous chiral molecules

“…It also becomes an important topic in atomic, molecular, and optical physics . Among these methods , an interesting one is by a cyclic three-level (∆type) configuration [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. In general, such a system is forbidden in natural atoms, but exist in chiral molecules and other symmetry-broken systems [31][32][33][34][35].…”