Overall, we have made substantial strides in the last two years towards the goal of the CHIRALSCOPY project. We have built a balanced detection optical activity setup that simultaneously measures broadband circular dichroism (CD) and optical rotatory dispersion(ORD) spectra with high-senstivity and high-speed using an incoherent light source. Prior to our work, broadband optical activity measurements were demonstrated mostly using coherent laser sources. Thanks to our development, it will be now possible to measure broadband CD and ORD spectra outside the laser laboratory. Due to the high speed of our measurements, it is now possible to monitor the progress of fast chiral chemical reactions in real time.
We have also devised novel strategy to probe time resolved CD and ORD dynamics with femtosecond time resolution using the balanced detection schemes. which we are now employing for time-resolved experiments. This work is still in progress. Once accomplished it will open new doors to understand femtosecond chiroptical and magnetooptical dynamics in biomolecules and materials systems.
In 2D layered perovskites, we have demonstrated optical control of spin lifetimes. We found that at cryogenic temperature, the spin relaxation in layered perovskites drastically slows down when pumping high-energy exciton states because of the polaron formation. These results have raised the tantalizing possibility of optical control of spin lifetime in layered perovskites materials.
Our broadband CD/ORD spectropolarimeter promises to be superior to the ones currently the market, so that it has strong potential for commercial exploitation and may in the long run have an impact on healthcare.
