Completely Chiral Optical Force for Enantioseparation.
Fast and reliable separation of enantiomers of chiral nanoparticles requires elimination of all the forces that are independent of the nanoparticle handedness and creation of a sufficiently strong force that either pushes different enantiomers in opposite directions or delays the diffusion of one of them with respect to the other. Here we show how to construct such a completely chiral optical force using two counterpropagating circularly polarized plane waves of opposite helicities. We then explore capabilities of the related enantioseparation method by analytically solving the problem of the force-induced diffusion of chiral nanoparticles in a confined region, and reveal that it results in exponential spatial dependencies of the quantities measuring the purity of chiral substances. The proposed concept of a completely chiral optical force can potentially advance enantioseparation and enantiopurification techniques for all kinds of chiral nanoparticles that strongly interact with light.
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.|Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Ivan D
ID
Rukhlenko
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Nikita V
NV
Tepliakov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Anvar S
AS
Baimuratov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Semen A
SA
Andronaki
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.|School of Chemistry and CRANN Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Yurii K
YK
Gun'ko
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Alexander V
AV
Baranov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Anatoly V
AV
Fedorov