The engagement of optical angular momentum in nanoscale chirality

Abstract

Wide-ranging developments in optical angular momentum have recently led to refocused attention on issues of material chirality. The connection between optical spin and circular polarization, linking to well-known and utilized probes of chirality such as circular dichroism, has prompted studies aiming to achieve enhanced means of differentiating enantiomers – molecules or particles of opposite handedness. A number of newly devised schemes for physically separating mirror-image components by optical methods have also been gaining traction, together with a developing appreciation of how the scale of physical dimensions ultimately determines any capacity to differentially select for material chirality. The scope of such enquiries has substantially widened on recognition that suitably structured, topologically charged beams of light – often known as ‘twisted light’ or ‘optical vortices’ can additionally convey orbital angular momentum. A case can be made that understanding the full scope and constraints upon chiroptical interactions in the nanoscale regime involves the resolution of CPT symmetry conditions governing the fundamental interactions between matter and photons. The principles provide a sound theoretical test-bed for new methodologies.