Creating, detecting and controlling dynamic chirality with tailored electromagnetic fields (MS Teams Webinar)

We are going to discuss selected applications of ultra-short tailored laser pulses in coherent control of the rotational-vibrational dynamics of molecules. In the first example we demonstrate a novel concept of field-induced diastereomers. Strong chiral electromagnetic fields are used to create quantum-state-specific enantiomeric enrichment and allow to spatially separate enantiomers. Next, we show how to coherently control the rotation-axis direction in asymmetric top molecules, with an optical centrifuge. This technique can be successfully used to achieve simultaneous orientation of extremely high angular momentum in the laboratory frame and in the molecular frame. Appropriately chosen electric-field strengths and the centrifuge's acceleration rate allow to generate a nearly arbitrary rotational wavepacket, which gives an open access to the physics in the molecular frame. Applications include robust control of scattering and imaging experiments. Finally, we discuss how an extreme rotational excitation generates an emergent (dynamic) chirality in statically non-chiral systems.