Abstract
We present a fast and sensitive polarimeter combining common-path optical heterodyne interferometry and accumulative spectroscopy to detect rotatory power. The sensitivity of rotatory detection is determined to be 0.10 milli-degrees for a measurement time of only one second and an interaction length of 250 μm. Its suitability for femtosecond studies is demonstrated in a non-resonant two-photon photodissociation experiment.
Highlights
Measuring the optical activity is a common spectroscopic technique to identify excesses of chiral molecules
We present a fast and sensitive polarimeter combining common-path optical heterodyne interferometry and accumulative spectroscopy to detect rotatory power
Long integration times and high concentrations are typically employed to reach measurable optical rotation angles. Such conditions can hardly be met in femtosecond spectroscopy, optical rotation has been used only recently as a probing signal in liquid-phase ultrafast studies [1,2,3,4,5]
Summary
Measuring the optical activity is a common spectroscopic technique to identify excesses of chiral molecules. Long integration times and high concentrations are typically employed to reach measurable optical rotation angles. Such conditions can hardly be met in femtosecond (fs) spectroscopy, optical rotation has been used only recently as a probing signal in liquid-phase ultrafast studies [1,2,3,4,5]. We have developed a polarimeter to overcome these intricacies. Albeit it does not probe ultrafast chirality changes, it is suitable for probing ultrafast dynamics initiated with fs laser pulses by monitoring optical rotation changes due to the emergence of a stable photoproduct
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