Circular discrimination and manipulation of transient molecules by Coulomb explosion and photoelectron diffraction (B01)

• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 328961117

The goal of this project is to probe and induce chirality in molecules that have an achiral equilibrium structure. In planar molecules, we aim to show by Coulomb Explosion Imaging and Photoelectron Circular Dichroism (PECD) that, on the level of a single molecule, each individual molecule is (instantaneously) chiral due to zero point vibrational motion in the ground state. For formic acid and molecules with equivalent atoms, we will use the photoelectron recoil momentum from photoionization by 20-40 keV photons to induce chirality by imparting a directional kick on individual atomic nuclei. This momentum serves to steer the dissociation process and to selectively break otherwise equal bonds, thereby inducing chirality.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1319: Extreme light for sensing and driving molecular chirality (ELCH)
• Applicant Institution: Universität Kassel
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Reinhard Dörner; Dr. Markus Schöffler, until 12/2025