A search for chiral asymmetry in secondary electron emission from cysteine induced by longitudinally-polarized electrons*

Using a Rb spin filter as a polarized electron source [1], we performed experiments searching for a chirality-dependent secondary electron yield when a 141eV longitudinally spin-polarized electron beam was incident on a solid cysteine surface. We determined the secondary electron yield by measuring the positive current produced when the cysteine target was negatively biased. We found no spin dependent effects to a level of one part in one thousand from this interaction, a collision channel that has not been studied to date.

[1] M. Pirbhai, J. Knepper, E. T. Litaker, D. Tupa, and T. J. Gay, “Optically pumped spinexchange polarized-electron source,” Phys.Rev. A 88R, 1 (2013).