Chirality-Dependent Electron Spin Filtering by Molecular Monolayers of Helicenes
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 9, 2025 (2018).
M. Kettner, V. V. Maslyuk, D. Nürenberg, J. Seibel, R. Gutierrez, G. Cuniberti, K. H. Ernst, and H. Zacharias.
Journal DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00208

The interaction of low-energy photoelectrons with well-ordered monolayers of enantiopure helical heptahelicene molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces leads to a preferential transmission of one longitudinally polarized spin component, which is strongly coupled to the helical sense of the molecules. Heptahelicene, composed of only carbon and hydrogen atoms, exhibits only a single helical turn but shows excess in longitudinal spin polarization of about PZ = 6 to 8 after transmission of initially balanced left- and right-handed spin polarized electrons. Insight into the electronic structure, that is, the projected density of states, and the spin-dependent electron scattering in the helicene molecule is gained by using spin-resolved density functional theory calculations and a model Hamiltonian approach, respectively. Our results support the semiclassical picture of electronic transport along a helical pathway under the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by the electrostatic molecular potential.

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Chirality-Dependent Electron Spin Filtering by Molecular Monolayers of Helicenes
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 9, 2025 (2018).
M. Kettner, V. V. Maslyuk, D. Nürenberg, J. Seibel, R. Gutierrez, G. Cuniberti, K. H. Ernst, and H. Zacharias.
Journal DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00208

The interaction of low-energy photoelectrons with well-ordered monolayers of enantiopure helical heptahelicene molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces leads to a preferential transmission of one longitudinally polarized spin component, which is strongly coupled to the helical sense of the molecules. Heptahelicene, composed of only carbon and hydrogen atoms, exhibits only a single helical turn but shows excess in longitudinal spin polarization of about PZ = 6 to 8 after transmission of initially balanced left- and right-handed spin polarized electrons. Insight into the electronic structure, that is, the projected density of states, and the spin-dependent electron scattering in the helicene molecule is gained by using spin-resolved density functional theory calculations and a model Hamiltonian approach, respectively. Our results support the semiclassical picture of electronic transport along a helical pathway under the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by the electrostatic molecular potential.

Cover
©https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00208
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Involved Scientists