Researchers Shuxia Tao (Department of Applied Physics) and Björn Baumeier (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have been awarded funding by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to tackle one of spintronics' most persistent open questions: Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS).
The five-year project, named uniCISS, targets the CISS effect - a phenomenon observed for over two decades in which electrons traveling through chiral (spiral-structured) materials are selectively filtered by their quantum spin state. Despite its well-documented experimental occurrence, no complete theoretical framework has been established to explain the underlying mechanism, making deliberate materials engineering around the effect largely impossible.
The uniCISS team will integrate expertise from quantum-mechanical modeling, computational chemistry, and artificial intelligence to develop a predictive tool capable of guiding the design of new materials with tailored spintronic properties. The approach draws on Tao's ERC Consolidator Grant work and Baumeier's VIDI-funded research into chirality theory, with both researchers having recently converged on AI-accelerated materials discovery as a shared focus.
When a material is engineered with a chiral geometry and the CISS effect is exploited, it effectively functions as a nanoscale spin filter - selectively transmitting electrons of one spin orientation. Controlling this property with predictive precision would open a direct pathway to new classes of spintronic devices, including spin-polarized injectors, low-dissipation logic elements, and quantum communication components.
The NWO grant will fund two PhD candidates to be recruited within the project. uniCISS is one of 16 projects selected from 75 applications in the NWO Open Competition Domain Science (M-Programme) round, reflecting the project's standing among competitive fundamental research proposals.