Photoexcitable donor-bridge-acceptor (D-B-A) molecules that support intramolecular charge transfer are ideal platforms to probe the influence of chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) in electron transfer and resulting radical pairs. In particular, the extent to which CISS influences spin polarization or spin coherence in the initial state of spin-correlated radical pairs following charge transfer through a chiral bridge remains an open question. Here, we introduce a quantum sensing scheme to measure directly the hypothesized spin polarization in radical pairs using shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond at the single- to few-molecule level. Importantly, we highlight the perturbative nature of the electron spin-spin dipolar coupling within the radical pair, and demonstrate how Lee-Goldburg decoupling can preserve spin polarization in D-B-A molecules for enantioselective detection by a single NV center. The proposed measurements will provide fresh insight into spin selectivity in electron transfer reactions.
@article{arxiv.2302.01725,
title = {Towards Quantum Sensing of Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity: Probing Donor-Bridge-Acceptor Molecules with NV Centers in Diamond},
author = {Laura A. Völker and Konstantin Herb and Erika Janitz and Christian L. Degen and John M. Abendroth},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.01725},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
7 pages and 4 pages appendix including an extensive description of the initial spin state of photo-generated radical pairs