Circularly polarized light, however, has an electric field that rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise as the light travels. When the team illuminated the R and S forms with opposite helicities of circularly polarized light, the mirror-image samples responded in opposite ways. The R-form produced a stronger response under right-circularly polarized light, whereas the S-form responded more strongly under left-circularly polarized light. They were converting that light into separated electrical charges with a far greater handedness-dependent contrast. Possible future applications include detectors for circularly polarized light, spin-based electronics and optoelectronic systems that distinguish between different light helicities.