Detection of parity violation in chiral molecules by external tuning of electroweak optical activity

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.80.012110· OSTI ID:21313204

Bargueno, Pedro ^[1]; Gonzalo, Isabel ^[2]; Perez de Tudela, Ricardo ^[1]

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1. Instituto de Fisica Fundamental (CSIC), Serrano 123, 28006 Madrid (Spain)
2. Departamento de Optica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

A proposal is made to measure the parity-violating energy difference between enantiomers of chiral molecules by modifying the dynamics of the two-state system using an external chiral field, in particular, circularly polarized light. The intrinsic molecular parity-violating energy could be compensated by this external chiral field, with the subsequent change in the optical activity. From the observation of changes in the time-averaged optical activity of a sample with initial chiral purity and minimized environment effects, the value of the intrinsic parity-violating energy could be extracted. A discussion is made on the feasibility of this measurement.

• OSTI ID: 21313204
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 80, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.80.012110; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CHIRALITY
ENANTIOMORPHS
OPTICAL ACTIVITY
PARITY
PHOTON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WEAK INTERACTIONS