High resolution spectroscopy of methyltrioxorhenium: towards the observation of parity violation in chiral molecules.
Originating from the weak interaction, parity violation in chiral molecules has been considered as a possible origin of biohomochirality. We have proposed the observation of molecular parity violation using the two-photon Ramsey fringes technique on a supersonic beam. As a first step in this direction, a detailed spectroscopic study of methyltrioxorhenium (MTO) has been undertaken. It is an ideal test molecule as the achiral parent molecule of chiral candidates for a parity violation experiment. For the (187)Re MTO isotopologue, a combined analysis of Fourier transform microwave and infrared spectra as well as ultra-high resolution CO(2) laser absorption spectra enabled the assignment of 28 rotational lines and 71 rovibrational lines, some of them with a resolved hyperfine structure. A set of spectroscopic parameters in the ground and first excited state, including hyperfine structure constants, was obtained for the ν(as) antisymmetric Re=O stretching mode of this molecule. This result validates the experimental approach to be followed once a chiral derivative of MTO is synthesized, and shows the benefit of the combination of several spectroscopic techniques in different spectral regions, with different set-ups and resolutions. The first high resolution spectra of jet-cooled MTO, obtained on a set-up being developed for the observation of molecular parity violation, are shown, which constitutes a major step towards the targeted objective.
Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, UMR7538 Université Paris 13-CNRS, 99 av. J.-B. Clément, F-93430 Villetaneuse, France.
Clara
C
Stoeffler
Benoît
B
Darquié
Alexander
A
Shelkovnikov
Christophe
C
Daussy
Anne
A
Amy-Klein
Christian
C
Chardonnet
Laure
L
Guy
Jeanne
J
Crassous
Thérèse R
TR
Huet
Pascale
P
Soulard
Pierre
P
Asselin