Optical activity of chirally distorted nanocrystals

Journal Article · Sat May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4948966· OSTI ID:22596988

Tepliakov, Nikita V.; Baimuratov, Anvar S.; Baranov, Alexander V.; Fedorov, Anatoly V. ^[1]

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1. Department of Optical Physics and Modern Natural Science, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101 (Russian Federation)

We develop a general theory of optical activity of semiconductor nanocrystals whose chirality is induced by a small perturbation of their otherwise achiral electronic subsystems. The optical activity is described using the quantum-mechanical expressions for the rotatory strengths and dissymmetry factors introduced by Rosenfeld. We show that the rotatory strengths of optically active transitions are decomposed on electric dipole and magnetic dipole contributions, which correspond to the electric dipole and magnetic dipole transitions between the unperturbed quantum states. Remarkably, while the two kinds of rotatory strengths are of the same order of magnitude, the corresponding dissymmetry factors can differ by a factor of 10{sup 5}. By maximizing the dissymmetry of magnetic dipole absorption one can significantly enhance the enantioselectivity in the interaction of semiconductor nanocrystals with circularly polarized light. This feature may advance chiral and analytical methods, which will benefit biophysics, chemistry, and pharmaceutical science. The developed theory is illustrated by an example of intraband transitions inside a semiconductor nanocuboid, whose rotatory strengths and dissymmetry factors are calculated analytically.

• OSTI ID: 22596988
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 119, Issue 19; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABSORPTION
BIOPHYSICS
CHEMISTRY
CHIRALITY
DISTURBANCES
ELECTRIC DIPOLES
M1-TRANSITIONS
MAGNETIC DIPOLES
NANOSTRUCTURES
OPTICAL ACTIVITY
PERTURBATION THEORY
QUANTUM MECHANICS
QUANTUM STATES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS