Fig. 5: Full control of enantiomer-selective state transfer with five different fields.

a–c They depict the population dynamics for the initial states \(\left|J=1,\tau =0,M=-1\right\rangle\) and d–f, display the dynamics for the initial state \(\left|J=1,\tau =0,M=1\right\rangle\), where J, τ, and M are the quantum numbers of the asymmetric top. a and d These show the population in the rotational levels J, τ = 1, 1, J, τ = 1, 0 and J, τ = 0, 0, averaged over the degenerate M-states for a pulse sequence with five different fields which ensure complete enantiomer-selective control. For comparison, b and e display the incomplete enantiomer-selective state transfer in standard three-wave mixing cycles. The two enantiomers are denoted by solid blue and dashed red lines. The pulse envelopes are indicated by orange (ω = ω₁), pink (ω = ω₂), and turquoise (ω = ω₃) shapes. The height of these shapes indicates the maximal electric field strength (in arbitrary units) and the polarization is denoted by x, y, and z. Time is given in units of t₀ = ℏ/B, where B is a rotational constant. The details of the pulse shapes are given in Supplementary Information 2. c and f illustrate the initial (t = 0) and final (t = T) populations. The gray circles mark the states which are initially populated by both enantiomers. The blue (red) shapes indicate which states are finally populated by enantiomer 1 (enantiomer 2). The vertical bars show the frequencies ω₁ (orange), ω₂ (pink), and ω₃ (turquoise).