CFM Lunch Seminar

Thursday, February 27, 2025

 

CFM will meet in Olin 105 with lunch service at 12:30 pm and the seminar at 12:40 pm.

 

The speaker will be Mallory Green, Assistant Professor from the Wake Forest University Department of Chemistry.

 

Title:  Photoelectron Circular Dichroism: Using Electrons to Answer Questions About Chirality

Abstract:

Chirality is ubiquitous in nature, and scientists seek to explore this property to better understand life processes and facilitate more efficient chemical pathways. Chiroptical studies of molecular chirality in the gas phase are often limited due to weak chiral light-matter interactions. However, a relatively new chiroptical technique, known as photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD), bypasses these weak interactions to enable chiral discrimination measurements with chiral sensitivity that well exceeds conventional techniques such as absorption circular  dichroism. This chiroptical effect manifests in the photoemission direction of electrons from a chiral target, upon irradiation with circularly polarized light. Although there are numerous observations of this effect in the photoionization of neutral chiral molecules, there are few known cases of PECD in chiral anions. I will discuss our confirmation of photoelectron circular dichroism in the photodetachment of anions. In this discussion, I will explain the implications of this result for understanding the universal dynamics that govern this chiroptical effect, and provide an outlook on how this observation opens doors for new explorations into chiral phenomena.