Chiral Asymmetry on Chiral Nucleation in Chiral Optical Field

Abstract

  Chiral asymmetry induced by circularly polarized light(CPL)-chiral matter interaction has attracted many researchers on homochirality. Although sodium chlorate (NaClO₃) chiral crystallization, in which achiral solutes acquire chirality during its crystallization, has been used as a model compound representing chiral phenomena, statistically-significant chiral asymmetric state in the chiral crystallization has not been achieved by CPL irradiation. Here we show that the chiral asymmetric state can be provoked by inducing chiral nucleation via laser trapping of plasmonic Ag nano-aggregates using a continuous-wave visible circularly polarized laser. In addition, we reveal a pathway indicating “newborn crystals are ambidextrous.” by in-situ observation of early stage of the laser-induced chiral crystallization in contrast with a stereotypical view that “the crystal handedness is already determined at nucleation.”, which is based on the picture of the classical nucleation theory.