Spin-Dependent Momentum Conservation of Electron-Phonon Scattering in Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a mechanism where spin-dependent energy and momentum conservation in electron-phonon scattering explains chiral-induced spin selectivity, with environmental factors influencing the degree of spin polarization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel explanation for spin selectivity based on electron-phonon interactions and predicts how environmental factors affect spin polarization.

Findings

Spin selectivity arises from spin-dependent electron-phonon scattering.

Environmental factors like temperature and external fields influence spin polarization.

The mechanism is robust across different vibrational modes.

Abstract

The elucidation of the mechanisms behind chiral-induced spin selectivity remains an outstanding scientific challenge. Here we consider the role of delocalised phonon modes in electron transport in chiral structures and demonstrate that spin selectivity can originate from spin-dependent energy and momentum conservation in electron-phonon scattering events. While this mechanism is robust to the specifical nature of the vibrational modes, the degree of spin polarization depends on environmental factors, such as external driving fields, temperatures and phonon relaxation rates. This dependence is used to present experimentally testable predictions of our model.