Direction-dependent circular dichroism spectra of single crystals of cubic sodium uranyl acetate

Abstract

The contribution of the electric quadrupole mechanism to the chirality of optically active cubic sodium uranyl acetate single crystals has been established by measurements of the direction dependence of circular dichroism spectra. The CD bands for Σ g +→Δ g transitions are found to be direction dependent while those for Σ g +→Π g are direction-independent for light propagation k parallel to the (100) and (111) directions of the cubic cell. The contribution of the electric quadrupole mechanism to the chirality relative to that of the magnetic dipole mechanism is estimated to be about 20%.