Precision measurement of parity violation with quantum-controlled and trapped chiral molecular ions

Introduction

Molecular chirality plays a central role in many fields, ranging from reaction dynamics to drug development. Fundamental questions surround chiral molecules, in particular: Why does a specific handedness prevail in natural living systems? The vast majority of Chemistry textbooks define the two enantiomers of chiral molecules as perfect mirror images, which entails tunnelling conversion between enantiomers.

Parity Violation in Chiral Molecules

However, a closer look reveals that the non-conservation of spatial inversion exhibited by the weak force should violate the parity symmetry in chiral molecules. In Q-ChiMP, we aim to answer the fundamental question, Is the weak force important in chemistry?

Experimental Approach

To this end, we will realize the first trapped chiral molecular ion experiment with pristine quantum control to measure parity violation (PV) in molecules for the first time by detecting tiny structural differences between enantiomers. We will use several advantages molecular ions have over neutrals in metrology:

1. We will leverage the long coherence times enabled by trapped ion experiments to enhance measurement precision.
2. Molecular ions provide a promising path to generate internally cold chiral molecules populating only a few quantum states, which serves as an essential ingredient of precision metrology along with high quantum efficiency in detection.

Our main approach to measure PV will use our newly developed vibrational spectroscopy scheme that can extract PV from a racemic sample directly, enhancing measurement precision and overcoming synthesis challenges.

Significance of the Research

Each of the aims developed in Q-ChiMP toward a measurement of PV serves as an important novel milestone for taming cold polyatomic molecules and can be applied to quantum-controlled chemistry experiments and quantum information technology.

Expertise of the Principal Investigator

The unique experience of the PI in precision spectroscopy with molecular ion ensembles and experimental cold quantum-controlled chemistry will be instrumental in achieving these ambitious goals.