Project A5

Coherent control of circular dichroism in ion yield after excitation of chiral molecules with tailored femtosecond laser pulses

Project Lead: Hendrike Braun (University of Kassel)

Circular dichroism shows up in the absorption spectra of chiral molecules or in the polarization of transmitted light but also in the ion yield after laser excitation. Any means to change the molecular structure or to influence the effective strength of the electric and magnetic dipole moments should therefore be reflected in the ion yield. From an ultrafast time dependent perspective, structural changes can be induced and controlled by vibrational wave packet motion. Effective transition moments may be changed by employing non-perturbative light matter interaction regimes while in the weak field interaction regime coherent summation of effects to control the circular dichroism in ion yield can be observed. These approaches will be investigated with the help of ultrafast coherent control techniques.