Project description
Shedding light on the enigmatic world of chiral molecules
In a world where molecules come in two mirror-image forms, the key to unravelling the mysteries of chirality lies in their interaction with light. Even though chiral molecules play a crucial role in various biological processes, investigating their ultrafast electron dynamics has long been challenging due to the need for characterisation techniques operating at the attosecond (10-18 s) timescale. In this context, the EXCITERS project, funded by the European Research Council, aims to pioneer vectorial attosecond spectroscopy using elliptical strong fields and circular attosecond pulses, ultimately revolutionising chiral recognition. The anticipated outcomes are twofold. Firstly, it will advance the field of chiral recognition by introducing novel techniques and methodologies. Secondly, it will revolutionise attosecond science by challenging conventional notions of ellipticity.
Objective
Chiral molecules exist as two forms, so-called enantiomers, which have essentially the same physical and chemical properties and can only be distinguished via their interaction with a chiral system, such as circularly polarized light. Many biological processes are chiral-sensitive and unraveling the dynamical aspects of chirality is of prime importance for chemistry, biology and pharmacology. Studying the ultrafast electron dynamics of chiral processes requires characterization techniques at the attosecond (10−18 s) time-scale.
Molecular attosecond spectroscopy has the potential to resolve the couplings between electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom in such chiral chemical processes. There are, however, two major challenges: the generation of chiral attosecond light pulse, and the development of highly sensitive chiral discrimination techniques for time-resolved spectroscopy in the gas phase.
This ERC research project aims at developing vectorial attosecond spectroscopy using elliptical strong fields and circular attosecond pulses, and to apply it for the investigation of chiral molecules. To achieve this, I will (1) establish a new type of highly sensitive chiroptical spectroscopy using high-order harmonic generation by elliptical laser fields; (2) create and characterize sources of circular attosecond pulses; (3) use trains of circularly polarized attosecond pulses to probe the dynamics of photoionization of chiral molecules and (4) deploy ultrafast dynamical measurements to address the link between nuclear geometry and electronic chirality.
The developments from this project will set a landmark in the field of chiral recognition. They will also completely change the way ellipticity is considered in attosecond science and have an impact far beyond the study of chiral compounds, opening new perspectives for the resolution of the fastest dynamics occurring in polyatomic molecules and solid state physics.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssolid-state physics
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantHost institution
75794 Paris
France