Chirality-induced Spin-Orbit Coupling and Spin Selectivity

Abstract: We show that a spinor traveling along a helical path develops a spin-orbit coupling because of the curvature of the path. We then estimate the magnitude of this effective geometric spin-orbit interaction for structures that showcase chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS). We find that this chirality-induced spin-orbit coupling ($\chi$-SOC), in conjunction with broken time-reversal symmetry, may be an important ingredient for the microscopic underpinning of the CISS phenomenon.