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Supercurrents in Josephson junctions with chiral molecular potentials

Oleg Kuliashov1, Alberto Cappellaro2,3,4, Oded Millo5, Yossi Paltiel1, Mikhail Lemeshko4, and Ragheed Alhyder4,*

  • *Contact author: ragheed.alhyder@ista.ac.at
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 154510 – Published 17 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s1jn-fq4d

Abstract

The influence of chiral molecular potentials on phase-coherent transport in superconducting Josephson junctions is investigated. Within a Bogoliubov–de Gennes tight-binding framework, a superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) junction functionalized by adsorbed chiral molecules is modeled, where electrostatic gradients generated by the molecules induce spin-orbit coupling in the normal region. The equilibrium charge current-phase relation is found to remain largely insensitive to molecular chirality in symmetric, zero-field configurations. In contrast, the spin-polarized equilibrium current exhibits a pronounced chirality-dependent response, with opposite enantiomers producing distinct and anisotropic spin-polarized Josephson currents. The resulting handedness contrast can be enhanced through control parameters such as molecular orientation and the strength of the induced spin-orbit coupling. The temperature dependence of these currents further shows that the chirality-dependent signatures persist across a range of temperatures well below the superconducting critical temperature. These results identify Josephson interferometry as a phase-sensitive setting for probing chirality-dependent spin structure and highlight spin-polarized superconducting transport as a controlled route toward integrating chiral molecular functionality into superconducting spintronic devices.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 154510– Published 17 September, 2026
  • Received 11 March 2026
  • Revised 29 July 2026
  • Accepted 27 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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