We present an optical “enantio-selective switch” that, in two steps, turns a (“racemic”) mixture of left-handed and right-handed chiral molecules into the enantiomerically pure state of interest. The optical switch is composed of an “enantio-discriminator” and an “enantio-converter” acting in tandem. The method is robust, insensitive to decay processes, and does not require molecular preorientation. We demonstrate the method on the purification of a racemate of (transiently chiral) ${\mathrm{D}}_2{\mathrm{S}}_2$ molecules, performed on the nanosecond time scale.

• Received 11 September 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.033001