Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 2: Chirality I

MO 2.4: Talk

Monday, March 2, 2026, 12:45–13:00, P 110

Geometric mechanisms enabling photoelectron spin and molecular chirality coupling in photoionization — •Philip Caesar Flores¹, Stefanos Carlstroem¹, Serguei Patchkovskii¹, Misha Ivanov^1,2,3, Vladimiro Mujica⁴, Andres Ordonez^1,5,6, and Olga Smirnova^1,3,7 — ¹Max-Born-Institut, Max-Born-Str. 2A, 12489 Berlin, Germany — ²Insitute of Physics, Humboldt University zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany — ³Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel — ⁴School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA — ⁵Department of Physics, Imperial College London, SW7 2BW London, United Kingdom — ⁶Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany — ⁷echnische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany

We examine the simplest yet ubiquitous example of spin-chirality coupling: spin-resolved photoionization of randomly oriented chiral molecules, and uncover two universal geometric mechanisms of spin-selective photodynamics, arising solely from electric-dipole interactions and previously unrecognized. These mechanisms are quantified by two pseudovectors stemming from the geometric properties of photoionization dipoles in spin space and in real space. The developed theoretical framework enables rigorous quantification of ‘locking’ between the cation orientation and photoelectron spin, as well the the photoelectron current and its spin. The former effect captures the core of chirality-induced spin selectivity while the latter captures the dynamical origin of spin- and enantio-sensitive multipolar photoelectron currents.

Keywords: spin polarization; pecd; ciss effect; photoionization