Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Investigation Of The Orientation Dependence On Chiroptical Properties Of Single Molecules, Austin Joseph Cyphersmith

Open Access Dissertations

Optical activity is the defining property of chiral materials that is essential for characterization in biology, chemistry, and physics. While a substantial body of research has provided a strong theoretical framework of the origin of optical activity, we still know very little by way of experiment about an individual molecule’s contribution to the bulk optical activity. The chiroptical response of a single molecule can depend on molecular orientation and local molecular environment, information which is lost in ensemble averaging.

This thesis focuses on establishing methods for a priori determination of chiral molecule orientations and refining measurements to probe the chiroptical …