Strong chiral response in non-collinear high harmonic generation driven by purely electric-dipole interactions
File(s)Ayuso_OpticsExpress.pdf (9.89 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Ayuso Molinero, David
Ordonez, Andres F
Decleva, Piero
Ivanov, Misha
Smirnova, Olga
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
High harmonic generation (HHG) records the ultrafast electronic response of matter to light, encoding key properties of the interrogated quantum system, such as chirality. The first implementation of chiral HHG [Cireasa et al, Nat. Phys. 11, 654 (2015) [CrossRef] ] relied on the weak electronic response of a medium of randomly oriented chiral molecules to the magnetic component of an elliptically polarized wave, yielding relatively weak chiro-optical signals. Here we apply state-of-the-art semi-analytical modelling to show that elliptically polarized light can drive a strong chiral response in chiral molecules via purely electric-dipole interactions – the magnetic component of the wave does not participate at all. This strong chiro-optical response, which remains hidden in standard HHG experiments, can be mapped into the macroscopic far-field signal using a non-collinear configuration, creating new opportunities for imaging chiral matter and chiral dynamics on ultrafast time scales.
Date Issued
2022-02-14
Date Acceptance
2021-11-17
Citation
Optics Express, 2022, 30 (4)
ISSN
1094-4087
Publisher
Optical Society of America (OSA)
Journal / Book Title
Optics Express
Volume
30
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
©2022 Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
License URL
Identifier
https://opg.optica.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-30-4-4659&id=468881
Subjects
0205 Optical Physics
0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
1005 Communications Technologies
Optics
Publication Status
Published