Abstract
``Locally chiral'' twisted light carries a nonzero chirality density even within the electric dipole approximation, and may be useful for controlling or analyzing chiral matter via nonlinear light-matter interactions. Here, the authors take inspiration from molecular chemistry to solve the outstanding problem of defining the handedness of locally chiral light.
Highlights
Unambiguous definition of handedness for locally chiral lightOfer Neufeld 1,2,* and Oren Cohen 2 1Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Hamburg 22761 Germany
The degree of chirality (DOC) of this light source was characterized [23], and it was predicted to be highly useful for chirality sensing through nonlinear light-matter interactions in high harmonic generation (HHG) [21,24–26] and photoionization [27]
We have defined an unambiguous handedness for locally chiral light
Summary
Ofer Neufeld 1,2,* and Oren Cohen 2 1Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Hamburg 22761 Germany. Synthetic chiral light fields were recently introduced as a novel source of chirality [Ayuso et al, Nat. Photonics 13, 866 (2019)]. This locally chiral light spans a three-dimensional polarization that plots a chiral trajectory in space-time, leading to huge nonlinear chiral signals upon interactions with chiral media. The degree of chirality of this new form of light was defined, characterized, and shown to be proportional to the chiral signal in high harmonic generation and photo-emission. Standard definitions of helicity are inapplicable for locally chiral light due to its complex three-dimensional structure. We define an unambiguous handedness for locally chiral fields and employ it in practical calculations
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