Vibrationally Mediated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction as the Origin of Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity in
Alessandro Chiesa1,2,3, D K Andrea Phan Huu1, Arianna Cantarella1,2
1Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Informatiche, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 53/A, I-43124Parma, Italy.
Abstract:
Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) was recently observed in photoexcited donor-chiral bridge-acceptor molecules, but a predictive theory able to explain available experiments is still lacking. Here, we show that torsional modes modulating hopping and spin-orbit coupling give rise to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction between the transferred electron and the one sitting on the donor, producing high spin polarization for realistic parameters. Our model introduces a low-energy scale in the spin dynamics that explains the magnetic field dependence observed in EPR measurements and predicts a nontrivial temperature dependence, as demonstrated by numerical simulations. The present theory lays the foundations for future test bed experiments and for the design of applications in spintronics and quantum technologies.
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