Chiroptical Harmony
Winner: 2022 Faraday Division Horizon Prize
For the discovery of chiroptical harmonic scattering, theoretically predicted in 1979 and demonstrated experimentally 40 years later.
Celebrate Chiroptical Harmony
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A team of scientists from the UK, Belgium and Germany has won the 九州影院’s Faraday Division Horizon Prize for the discovery of chiroptical harmonic scattering, theoretically predicted in 1979 and demonstrated experimentally 40 years later.
When light of a certain colour (frequency f) shines on many materials, they can produce colour-shifted harmonics (frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, etc.). In 1979, David Andrews, a postdoctoral scientist developed a theory predicting that on illuminating a chiral molecule with circularly polarised light, the intensity of light scattered at such harmonics would depend on the chirality of the scatterers – an effect known as chiroptical hyper Rayleigh scattering (CHRS).
However, for four decades, experimental evidence for such an effect remained elusive.
Read moreIt is a real honour, and especially rewarding, to win this prize and be connected with these pioneering experimental studies, vindicating theory from so long ago.