Poster Spotlight: Towards Quantum Transport in Metal and Ferromagnetic Semiconductor Thin Films Structures with Absorbed Chiral Molecules

Jiahui Xu ¹ , Jason W. A. Robinson¹, Hisakazu Matsuki¹, Nadia Stelmashenko¹, Shira Yochelis², Yossi Paltiel²

1. Material Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
2. Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.

Jiahui Xu ¹ , Jason W. A. Robinson¹, Hisakazu Matsuki¹, Nadia Stelmashenko¹, Shira Yochelis², Yossi Paltiel²

1. Material Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
2. Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.

Chiral molecules (CMs), such as alpha-helix polyalanine, exhibit chiral-induced spin-selectivity (CISS) characteristics, which means that a flow of electron charge across a layer of CMs can result in a spin-filtering effect and phase coherent transport (1, 2). Recently, for example, we have demonstrated low temperature phase-coherent transport through thin-film wires of Au and Cu with absorbed CMs (2). For Au, we also observed evidence for induced ferromagnetism associated with the thiol-Au bonding and for Au and Cu, we detected an enhancement of spin-orbit coupling. Here, we systematically study charge transport and magnetic anisotropy in thin films and wires of Au and Au/EuS where EuS is a ferromagnetic semiconductor. The thickness of Au is varied in the 1-10 nm range in order to optimise magnetic hysteresis in Au and magnetic anisotropy modification in Au/EuS structures. The results provide a platform for detailed studies of quantum behaviour including magnetic control of phase coherence transport and potentially a quantum anomalous Hall effect.


1. R. Naaman, Y. Paltiel, D.H. Waldeck, Nature Reviews Chemistry, 3, 250 (2019).
2. M. Ozeri et al., The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 14, 4941-4948 (2023).