Origin of the chirality-induced spin-selectivity effect: a puzzle and its (possible) resolution

by Prof. Yonatan Dubi

Ben Gurion University of the Negev

at Physics Colloquium

Tue, 14 Mar 2023, 15:15
Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015

Abstract

When electrons are injected through a chiral molecule, the resulting current may become spin polarized. This effect, known as the chirality-induced spin-selectivity (CISS) effect, was discovered over a decade ago, but there is still no agreement as to its physical origin. Put simply: while many attempts to theoretically explain it, we don’t know why it happens.

In this talk I will explain the basic features of the CISS effect, and describe our theoretical proposal describing its origin, based on the interplay between spin–orbit interactions in the electrode, the chirality of the molecule (which induces a solenoid field), and spin-transfer torque at the molecule–electrode interface. I will show how this theory can explain essentially all the experimental features, and reproduce – to remarkable accuracy – various old and (very) new experimental results (to date it is the only theory that can reproduce data). Finally, I will describe some experiments which can be used as a “smoking gun” to differentiate between different mechanisms for the CISS effect.

[1] S. Alwan & Y. Dubi, Spinterface Origin for the Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity Effect, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 35, 14235.
[2] Y. Dubi, Spinterface chirality-induced spin selectivity effect in bio-molecules, Chemical Science 2022,13, 10878-10883
[3] C. Yang, Y. Li, S. Zhou, Y. Guo, C. Jia, Z. Liu, K. N. Houk, Y. Dubi & X. Guo, Stereochemistry identified by single-molecule chirality-induced spin selectivity, Nature Chemistry (2023) in press.
[4] S. Alwan, S. Sarkar, A. Sharoni & Y. Dubi, Temperature-dependence of the Chirality-induced spin-selectivity effect, submitted.

*** Refreshments will be served from 15:00 ***

Created on 27-02-2023 by Maniv, Eran (eranmaniv)
Updaded on 08-03-2023 by Maniv, Eran (eranmaniv)