  We report a combined experimental and theoretical study on the influence of
microwave pulse durations on enantiomer-specific state transfer. Two triads of
rotational states within a chiral molecule (1-indanol) are selected to address
the possible scenarios. In the triad connected to the absolute ground state,
the simplest triad that exists for all chiral molecules, the
enantiomer-specific state transfer process simplifies into a sequence of
two-level transitions. The second triad, including higher rotational states,
represents a more generic scenario that involves multiple Rabi frequencies for
each transition. Our study reveals that the conventional
$\frac{\pi}{2}-\pi-\frac{\pi}{2}$ pulse sequence is not the optimal choice,
except for the ideal case when in the simplest triad only the lowest level is
initially populated. We find that employing a shorter duration for the first
and last pulse of the sequence leads to significantly higher state-specific
enantiomeric enrichment, albeit at the expense of overall population in the
target state. Our experimental results are in very good agreement with theory,
substantiating the quantitative understanding of enantiomer-specific state
transfer.
