Summa cum laude: Congratulations to Matthias!

Our newest IMPRS alumnus studied the Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect in polymeric model systems.

Title: “Chiral induction effects in helical poly(amino acid)s composed of achiral monomers”

Matthias’ scientific work was focusing on the development of an helical polymer system which is composed of achiral amino acids. Under normal circumstances this kind of helical polymer would adopt right- and left-handed helices uncontrollably in equal amounts but through various polymerization techniques and chiral induction via the sergeant-and-soldier effect, it was possible to manipulate and control the helical turn direction. This purely helical model system was probed successfully for the chiral induced spin selectivity effect. It showed a nearly perfect spin polarization of over 99 % which was unprecedented till now for helical poly(amino acids). This system could act as a model system for further studies on the CISS effect to help the understanding of its origin and further develop spintronics applications.