Coherent electric field characterization of molecular chirality in the time domain.

Intrinsic handedness encountered in molecular sciences plays an essential role in diverse physical, chemical and biological processes. Optical activity spectroscopy has enabled one to characterize such molecular handedness (chirality) and demonstrated its unique ability to provide stereo-specific structural insight into chiral molecular systems including biopolymers, chiral drugs, and superchiral materials. However, more extended applications including time-resolved studies have often been hindered by inherent limitations of conventional differential methods utilizing both left- and right-handed radiations. The latest methodological advance is heterodyned detection methods measuring wave interferences between signal and reference fields, which allowed direct characterizations of coherent chiroptical signals in a flash. With its ultimate sensitivity, the heterodyned chiroptical method promises to open new possibilities of transient electronic or vibrational optical activity measurements in the ultrafast time domain.