Twisted light tells apart molecular twins

Many molecules occur as mirror images whose handedness influences their chemical activity.

Researchers from IIT Hyderabad, along with collaborators from TIFR Hyderabad and IIT Bombay, have developed a sensitive and scalable method that uses twisted light to distinguish these mirror image forms, with promising applications in research and industry.

Reference: Venugopal, H., Aravind, P., Sajeevan, A., Sen, S., Sinha, A., Giri, S., Dixit, G., Gopal, R., & Sharma, V. (2026). Enhanced chiral discrimination in mass spectrometry with orbital angular momentum beams. Science Advances, 12(23), eaec6549. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec6549