2007/05/31 by Yong Li, Christoph Bruder, C. Bruder +1 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #Chiral anomaly #Chirality (physics) #Gauge (firearms) #Observable #Physics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Spin (aerodynamics) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.130403
published as Phy. Rev. Lett. 99, 130403 (2007) · 4+ pages, 4 figures
openalex publication_date 2007/09/26 · arxiv created 2007/10/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Stern-Gerlach effect is well known as spin-dependent splitting of a beam of atoms with magnetic moments by a magnetic-field gradient. Here, we show that an induced gauge potential may lead to a similar effect for chiral molecules. In the presence of three inhomogeneous light fields, the center of mass of a three-level chiral molecule is subject to an optically induced gauge potential, and the internal dynamics of the molecule can be described as an adiabatic evolution in the reduced pseudospin subspace of the two lowest energy levels. We demonstrate numerically that such an induced gauge potential can lead to observable pseudospin-dependent and chirality-dependent generalized Stern-Gerlach effects for mixed left- and right-handed chiral molecules under realistic conditions.