Spin Filtering Along Chiral Polymers

Spin-dependent conduction and polarization in chiral polymers were studied for polymers organized as self-assembled monolayers with conduction along the polymer backbone, namely, along its longer axis. Large spin polarization and magnetoresistance effects were observed, showing a clear dependence on the secondary structure of the polymer. The results indicate that the spin polarization process does not include spin flipping and hence it results from backscattering probabilities for the two spin states.