Fig. 9: The chirality dependence of spin.

a Schematic representation of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect. The image shows electrons with opposite spins (red spheres for spin up and blue spheres for spin down) moving through left-handed and right-handed helices. When electrons move within a left- or right-handed chiral potential, their spin orientation prefers to be aligned parallel or antiparallel to their velocity, ν, respectively. The spin level degeneracy was broken inside the helix because of the effective magnetic field generated by the electron velocity coupling with the chiral electrical potential. b Schematic diagram of the chiral P3HT nanowire structure. c Magnetization characterization of the chiral P3HT nanowire:C₆₀ complex under different polarized light excitations. Linear and circular indicate linear and circular polarization light excitation, respectively. Reproduced from Naaman and Waldeck¹¹³ with permission from Annual Reviews, Inc., Wang et al.⁶⁵ with permission from the American Physical Society and Gao et al.¹¹⁷ with permission from Wiley-VCH.