title: Chirality and the angular momentum of light.
abstract: Chirality is exhibited by objects that cannot be rotated into their mirror images. It is far from obvious that this has anything to do with the angular momentum of light, which owes its existence to rotational symmetries. There is nevertheless a subtle connection between chirality and the angular momentum of light. We demonstrate this connection and, in particular, its significance in the context of chiral light-matter interactions.This article is part of the themed issue 'Optical orbital angular momentum'.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK robert.cameron@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8809-5459
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Jörg B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Götte
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, UK.
authors.forename: Alison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Yao
keywords: chirality; molecules; optical angular momentum; physical chemistry