Interpretation of chirality imprinted on photoelectron momentum spectra by three-dimensional light fields
Abstract
Synthetic three-dimensional (3D) light fields provide a new route to imprinting chirality on achiral matter through light--matter interaction. Although previous work has numerically demonstrated that chirality can be imprinted on the photoelectron momentum spectrum of atoms, a transparent analytical physical picture that links the structure of the driving field to the chirality of the spectrum is still an open question. Here, using frequency-domain theory based on nonperturbative quantum electrodynamics (QED), we demonstrate that this chirality originates from coherence between adjacent quantum transition channels. We further find that a symmetry transformation introduces into the coherence term a symmetry-breaking phase shift (ΦSBPS), which can be tuned by varying the laser-field parameters to preserve or break the corresponding symmetry in the spectrum. Once all such symmetries are broken, the momentum spectrum becomes chiral. In particular, for the noncollinear two-color 3D light field considered here, the spectrum is chiral for even f=ω2/ω1 and achiral for odd f. Our results provide a microscopic interpretation of chirality imprinting and establish a framework for predicting and controlling chiral electron wave packets with synthetic 3D light fields.
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BibTeX
@misc{yuan2026interpretation,
title = {{Interpretation of chirality imprinted on photoelectron momentum spectra by three-dimensional light fields}},
author = {Junxin Yuan and Yuhong Li and Fei Li and Jinkai Zhang and Shiyang Zhong and Hao Teng and Yujun Yang and Yingchun Guo and Zhiyi Wei and Jing Chen and Xiaojun Liu and Bingbing Wang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.14557},
eprint = {2610.14557},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.14557},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Interpretation of chirality imprinted on photoelectron momentum spectra by three-dimensional light fields
AU - Junxin Yuan
AU - Yuhong Li
AU - Fei Li
AU - Jinkai Zhang
AU - Shiyang Zhong
AU - Hao Teng
AU - Yujun Yang
AU - Yingchun Guo
AU - Zhiyi Wei
AU - Jing Chen
AU - Xiaojun Liu
AU - Bingbing Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.14557
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.14557
AB - Synthetic three-dimensional (3D) light fields provide a new route to imprinting chirality on achiral matter through light--matter interaction. Although previous work has numerically demonstrated that chirality can be imprinted on the photoelectron momentum spectrum of atoms, a transparent analytical physical picture that links the structure of the driving field to the chirality of the spectrum is still an open question. Here, using frequency-domain theory based on nonperturbative quantum electrodynamics (QED), we demonstrate that this chirality originates from coherence between adjacent quantum transition channels. We further find that a symmetry transformation introduces into the coherence term a symmetry-breaking phase shift (Φ_SBPS), which can be tuned by varying the laser-field parameters to preserve or break the corresponding symmetry in the spectrum. Once all such symmetries are broken, the momentum spectrum becomes chiral. In particular, for the noncollinear two-color 3D light field considered here, the spectrum is chiral for even f=ω_2/ω_1 and achiral for odd f. Our results provide a microscopic interpretation of chirality imprinting and establish a framework for predicting and controlling chiral electron wave packets with synthetic 3D light fields.
ER -