Revolutionary Light-Based Method Enhances Chiral Molecule Detection Efficiency
Researchers at Imperial College London, in collaboration with scientists from Germany and Spain, have developed a new method to detect and quantify the chirality of molecules using light. By using lasers with moderate intensities, they were able to make the light helix in time instead of space, resulting in chiral electronic currents inside the molecules. This approach allows for improved detection ability, with one version of the molecule emitting bright light while its counterpart remains dark. The team's simulations suggest that this technique could enable non-destructive imaging of molecular chirality, and they plan to further explore its practical applications using femtosecond laser facilities.