Sum-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy on Chiral Liquids: A Novel Technique to Probe Molecular Chirality

M. A. Belkin; T. A. Kulakov; K.-H. Ernst; L. Yan; Y. R. Shen

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4474

Sum-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy on Chiral Liquids: A Novel Technique to Probe Molecular Chirality

M. A. Belkin, T. A. Kulakov, K.-H. Ernst, L. Yan, and Y. R. Shen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4474 – Published 20 November 2000

Abstract

Optical activity in sum-frequency vibrational spectra has been observed for the first time in chiral liquids. The electric-dipole allowed chiral element of the nonlinear susceptibility appears to be 3 orders of magnitude smaller than typical allowed achiral elements. This is partly because the observed chirality requires a breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation.

Received 25 May 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4474

Authors & Affiliations

M. A. Belkin, T. A. Kulakov, K.-H. Ernst^*, L. Yan^†, and Y. R. Shen^‡

Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
and Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720

^*Present address: Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Research, EMPA Dübendorf, Switzerland.
^†Present address: Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
^‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email address: shenyr@physics.berkeley.edu