J. Feis, D. Beutel, J. Köpfler, X. Garcia-Santiago, C. Rockstuhl, M. Wegener, and I. Fernandez-Corbaton

In: Cesaria, M., Calà Lesina, A., Collins, J. (eds) Light-Matter Interactions Towards the Nanoscale. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics. Springer, Dordrecht.

Abstract:

The two handednesses of a chiral molecule are identical in most of their physical properties yet may differ substantially in their chemical and biological effects. Circular dichroism (CD), the normalised difference between their absorption of left- and right-handed circularly polarised light, offers one of the few ways to physically distinguish them. Typically the CD of a molecule is very small though, particularly at low concentrations, which in turn means long measurement times with highly specialised devices to achieve acceptable signal-to-noise ratios. Thus a way of enhancement for the sensing of chiral molecules would be highly desirable for many chemical, medical and biological applications.