Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectropolarimeter for In-Situ Planetary Exploration: System-Level Design and Trade-Off Analysis

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This work introduces the first space-based Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD) spectropolarimeter for detecting molecular chirality as a biosignature. The design addresses the extreme challenge of measuring differential absorption signals as small as 10⁻⁶ under rigorous spaceborne constraints. It provides a structured trade-off framework for polarimetric modulation and spectroscopic architecture to enable remote detection of organic matter symmetry.