This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Mark Silverman, Department of Physics, Trinity College, and Dr. Jacques Badoz, Optics Laboratory, Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie, Paris, France. The objective of the project is to investigate the interaction of light with chiral media. Molecules and molecular arrangements characterized by a left- or-right-handedness (chirality) interact with polarized light to produce diverse phenomena collectively referred to as optical activity. In this project, experiments to measure the difference in specular reflection of right and left circularly polarized light from selected optically active fluids and crystals will be undertaken for the purpose of 1) resolving a fundamental controversial issue in the electrodynamics of chiral media, and 2) determining the feasibility of a new approach to the spectroscopy of chiral materials. The experimental method will employ photoelastic modulation of the polarization of the reflecting probe beam and subsequent phase-sensitive detection. From the resulting signal, the generalized Fresnal coefficients for an isotrophic naturally chiral medium will be measured for the first time as a function of angle of incidence and wavelength, and compared with recent theoretical predictions. The interaction of light with chiral media is of major interest in physics, chemistry, engineering and the biosciences for both conceptual and practical reasons. The scientific and educational significance of the proposed project is that it provides a stringent test of inequivalent electrodynamic descriptions of chiral media. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise and previous successful joint work of the two investigators, as well as from the availability of special instrumentation in the French laboratory.
