Chiral control of electron transmission through molecules

Spiros S. Skourtis, David N. Beratan, Ron Naaman, Abraham Nitzan, David H. Waldeck

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electron transmission through chiral molecules induced by circularly polarized light can be very different for mirror-image structures, a peculiar fact given that the electronic energy spectra of the systems are identical. We propose that this asymmetry-as large as 10% for resonant transport-arises from different dynamical responses of the mirrored structures to coherent excitation. This behavior is described in the context of a general novel phenomenon of current transfer (transfer of charge with its momentum information) and accounts for the observed asymmetry and its dependence on structure.

Original languageEnglish
Article number238103
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume101
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Dec 2008

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation0718043

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