Spectroscopic detection of time-odd molecular chirality

Determine which spectroscopic techniques are sensitive to time-odd chirality in isolated molecules and can distinguish it from time-even chirality.

Background

The paper distinguishes time-even (true) chirality from time-odd (false) chirality, whose handedness reverses under time reversal. Although time-odd chirality has been demonstrated in several engineered and solid-state systems, its experimental realization in isolated molecules is described as elusive.

The authors identify the sensitivity of spectroscopic observables to time-odd molecular chirality as unresolved, with the additional requirement that a suitable technique should discriminate dynamical, time-odd chirality from structural, time-even chirality. The paper proposes photoelectron circular dichroism as one possible probe and presents simulations indicating that it can detect purely rotational time-odd chiral dynamics, but the broader question of which spectroscopic techniques possess this sensitivity remains open.