Observation of Rayleigh optical activity for chiral molecules : a new chiroptical tool

Tools

McArthur, Duncan and Alexakis, Emmanouil I. and Puente, Andrew R. and McGonigle, Rebecca and Love, Andrew J. and Polavarapu, Prasad and Barron, Laurence D. and MacKenzie, Lewis E. and Arnold, Aidan S. and Cameron, Robert P. (2025) Observation of Rayleigh optical activity for chiral molecules : a new chiroptical tool. Other. arXiv, Ithaca, NY. (https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.02696)

[thumbnail of McArthur-etal-arXiv-2025-Observation-of-Rayleigh-optical-activity-for-chiral-molecules]
Preview
 Text. Filename: McArthur-etal-arXiv-2025-Observation-of-Rayleigh-optical-activity-for-chiral-molecules.pdf
Final Published Version
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 logo
Download (609kB)| Preview

Abstract

By measuring a small circularly polarized component in the scattered light, we report the first observation of Rayleigh optical activity (RayOA) for typical chiral molecules, namely the two enantiomers of α-pinene. Our work validates fundamental theoretical predictions made over fifty years ago and expands the chiroptical toolkit.

ORCID iDs

McArthur, Duncan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8603-8349, Alexakis, Emmanouil I., Puente, Andrew R., McGonigle, Rebecca, Love, Andrew J., Polavarapu, Prasad, Barron, Laurence D., MacKenzie, Lewis E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8151-0525, Arnold, Aidan S. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7084-6958 and Cameron, Robert P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8809-5459;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)