RESUMEN
Understanding the impact of the relativistic motion of a chiral molecule on its optical response is a prime challenge for fundamental science, but it also has a direct practical relevance in our search for extraterrestrial life. To contribute to these significant developments, we describe a multi-scale computational framework that combines quantum chemistry calculations and full-wave optical simulations to predict the chiral optical response from molecules moving at relativistic speeds. Specifically, the effect of a relativistic motion on the transmission circular dichroism (TCD) of three life-essential biomolecules, namely, B-DNA, chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll b, is investigated. Inspired by previous experiments to detect interstellar chiral molecules, we assume that the molecules move between a stationary observer and a light source, and we study the rotationally averaged TCD as a function of the speed of the molecule.We find that the TCD spectrum that contains the signatures of the molecules shifts with increasing speed to shorter wavelengths, with the effects already being visible for moderate velocities.
RESUMEN
Rotationally symmetric micro-cavities with disk, ring or toroidal shape displaying whispering gallery modes (WGMs) play an essential role in modern-day photonics. Due to the reduced symmetry of such resonators compared to spheres, an exact analytical model yielding WGMs as solutions does not exist. The established WGM classification scheme based on approximated analytical solutions is generally useful but neglects a possible interaction between the different modes. In this paper, we assess the limitation of the validity of this established classification based on extensive finite element method (FEM) simulations. We investigate respective mode couplings as well as underlying selection rules based on avoided crossings of the modes' resonance wavelengths. We propose conserved mode properties solely based on true symmetries of the underlying refractive-index distribution and deduce a novel WGM classification scheme.