Enantiosensitivity of spin polarization in molecular photoionization
Abstract
Angular distributions of photoelectrons with a defined spin orientation, released by the absorption of a single circularly polarized photon from randomly oriented chiral molecules, are derived and analyzed within the electric-dipole approximation. The revealed symmetry properties of the distributions support previous findings that the total spin polarization of photoelectrons is independent of the enantiomer of a chiral molecule, whereas the angular distribution of the spin polarization is enantiosensitive. Numerical applications to the achiral HI and chiral 1-iodo-2-methylbutane molecules illustrate that these analytical results also hold for multiphoton ionization processes.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Photochemistry and Electron Transfer Studies
Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
Advanced Chemical Physics Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review A
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 1
- Publication date
- 25 June 2026
- Language
- EN