Theory of Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity

A general theory of the chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect is presented. It is based on the fact that the spin-orbit (SO) coupling is small, a few meV, for the light atoms, which make up typical chiral molecules in experiments. We present a theorem based on the Onsager reciprocal principle, which states that the CISS effect vanishes when thermally averaging over all electron states. This zero result is avoided by the very nonthermal character of the incoming optically generated electrons in experimental realizations. Despite the small SO-coupling, the presence of accidental degeneracies in the molecular spectrum yields a sizable spin polarization. The CISS effect in the presence of magnetic leads is special. We prove that, in a situation with one magnetic lead, the other lead will become magnetized. This results from the interplay between the spin-orbit coupling in the chiral molecule and the magnetized lead. Numerical calculations for realistic chiral molecules confirm the theory.