Chirality is a property of asymmetry that translates into an object not being superimposed on its image in a mirror. The notion of symmetry breaking, inherent in the organisation of matter, the formation of new structural edifices and, more fundamentally, weak interactions, are omnipresent. From elementary particle physics to molecules in the living world and functional organisms, to force vortex-inducing weather phenomena, chirality often plays a crucial role. It is also a notion of geometry that is exploited in areas of design and man-made constructions for its functionality and uniqueness. The issue of chirality is therefore by definition multidisciplinary and multi-scale.
In academic fields, the study of chiral properties is a very dynamic research area in physics and chemistry, particularly in the field of synthetic chemistry and asymmetric catalysis. For example, the emergence of chiral fields at the macro scale, the interaction between light and matter and more particularly in biomolecular recognition with the origin of the homochirality of living organisms have been of remarkable interest. The development of spectroscopic techniques (circular dichroism, circularly polarised luminescence, Raman optical activity, photoelectron circular dichroism, harmonic generation, optical vortices, optofluidic selectivity) and other techniques (X-rays, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron microscopy), are crucial to characterise these new objects/phenomena/interactions.