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Coherent Enantiomer‐Selective Population Enrichment Using Tailored Microwave Fields
Author(s) -
Pérez Cristóbal,
Steber Amanda L.,
Domingos Sérgio R.,
Krin Anna,
Schmitz David,
Schnell Melanie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201704901
Subject(s) - enantiomer , microwave , chemistry , polarization (electrochemistry) , population , dipole , rotational spectroscopy , chemical physics , molecule , combinatorial chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , demography , sociology
We report the experimental demonstration of coherent enantiomer‐selective enrichment of chiral molecules by employing a novel microwave five‐pulse scheme. Our results show that enantiomers can be selectively transferred to a rotational level of choice by applying sequences of resonant microwave pulses in a phase‐ and polarization‐controlled manner. This is achieved by simultaneously exciting all three kinds of electric dipole‐allowed rotational transitions and monitoring the effect on a fourth rotational transition of choice. Using molecular beams, we apply our method to two chiral terpenes and obtain a 6 % enantiomeric enrichment, which is one order of magnitude larger than that recently reported in a buffer‐gas cell experiment. This approach establishes a robust scheme for controlled manipulation of enantiomers using tailored microwave fields and opens up new avenues for chiral purification and enrichment that can be used in a broad scope of analytical or spectroscopic applications.