Enantiospecific Chemical Mixture Analysis via Microwave Spectroscopy of Buffer Gas Cooled Samples

We present experimental results demonstrating a sensitive, highly specific chemical analyzer via Fourier transform microwave (FTMW) spectroscopy of molecular samples cooled via buffer gas cooling to about 7 K. Room temperature spectroscopic methods are routinely used to identify and quantify small and medium sized molecules. These methods fail for larger molecules, which at room temperature occupy hundreds of thousands of ro-vibrational states, leading to broad spectral features composed of a large number of weak, unresolved lines. In contrast, samples cooled to a few degrees K exhibit qualitatively simpler spectra, composed of many fewer and much stronger resolvable, narrow lines. Here we show that a continuous, cold buffer gas cooled source provides an attractive source for a spectroscopy based chemical mixture analyzer. In addition, we will present novel extensions to FTMW which render it sensitive to the chirality of the analyte. In this work, opposite enantiomers are distinguished via a change in the phase of the emitted microwave radiation. This technique provides a robust, general, chirally sensitive chemical analyzer, and is the first demonstration of microwave spectroscopy applied to chiral analysis.