Comment on: "Spin-orbit interaction and spin selectivity for tunneling electron transfer in DNA"

Abstract

The observation of chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) in biological molecules still awaits a full theoretical explanation. In a recent Rapid Communication, Varela et al. [Phys. Rev. B 101, 241410(R) (2020)] presented a model for electron transport in biological molecules by tunneling in the presence of spin-orbit interactions. They then claimed that their model produces a strong spin asymmetry due to the intrinsic atomic spin-orbit strength. As their Hamiltonian is time-reversal symmetric, this result contradicts a theorem by Bardarson [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41, 405203 (2008)], which states that such a Hamiltonian cannot generate a spin asymmetry for tunneling between two terminals (in which there are only a spin-up and a spin-down channels). Here we solve the model proposed by Varela et al. and show that it does not yield any spin asymmetry, and therefore cannot explain the observed CISS effect.

References in corpus (5)

• A proof of the Kramers degeneracy of transmission eigenvalues from antisymmetry of the scattering matrix
• Spin selectivity through time-reversal symmetric helical junctions
• Detection of current-induced spins by ferromagnetic contacts
• Spin-orbit interaction and spin selectivity for tunneling electron transfer in DNA
• Effects of magnetic fields on the Datta-Das spin field-effect transistor

Cited by in corpus (8)

• A Chirality-Based Quantum Leap
• Interface-Induced Conservation of Momentum Leads to Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity
• Magnetoconductance Anisotropies and Aharonov-Casher Phases
• Spin-filtering in a $p$-orbital helical atomic chain
• Mind the Gap: From Resolving Theoretical Foundations of Chiral(ity)-Induced Spin Selectivity to Pioneering Implementations in Quantum Sensing
• Spin-orbit interactions, time-reversal symmetry, and spin selection
• Electronic and Spin States at Edges of Finite $p$-orbital Helical Atomic Chain
• Interatomic spin-orbit interaction in a $p$-orbital helical atomic chain