A Polarization Hall Effect in Hydrated DNA

TL;DR

This work addresses whether collective polarization dynamics can emerge in biological soft matter under ambient conditions and magnetic fields. It combines magnetic-field control with temperature variation to interrogate a hydrated DNA–water interface, measuring a transverse polarization signal $V_{xy}$ and a longitudinal signal $V_{xx}$, and analyzes $1/B$-periodic oscillations, threshold behavior, and Landau-like polarization plateaus. The results reveal a field-stabilized, temperature-gated coherent dipolar ensemble with an effective coherence density $n_{ m{eff}} \\approx (4.7$--$5.8)\times10^{14}\, ext{m}^{-2}$ and a two-stage cooling-induced transition to a Fröhlich-like globally coherent mode, supported by interference with a photovoltage channel and phase locking between channels. The findings reinterpret the transverse response as a polarization current from proton–proton–hole dipoles in a chiral hydration network, providing a biologically relevant platform for room-temperature coherence in hydrogen-bonded media and linking biophysics with neutral-excitation Hall phenomena. This establishes hydrated DNA as a programmable soft matter system where magnetic field and temperature jointly organize dipolar order, with potential implications for understanding coherence in biological contexts.

Abstract

Understanding how biological soft matter responds to electromagnetic fields under ambient conditions remains a central challenge, as thermal fluctuations are generally expected to suppress long-range organization. Here, we report that hydrated DNA exhibits a reproducible magnetic-field-induced transition characterized by a sharp transverse-voltage threshold (40-50 mV), followed by a regime of regular, phase-stable oscillations in the transverse polarization signal. These features emerge only beyond the threshold and display a pronounced temperature dependence, consistent with the formation of a collective mode within the hydrogen-bond network of the DNA-water interface. Motivated by recent studies of Hall-like responses carried by neutral excitations, including phonons, magnons, and excitons, we interpret the observed transverse signal in terms of coherent polarization dynamics of proton-proton-hole dipoles confined to a quasi-two-dimensional hydrated layer. Within this framework, the transverse response is attributed to a field-organized polarization mode; the measured transverse voltage arises from collective dipolar dynamics rather than steady carrier transport. These results identify hydrated DNA as a soft-matter system in which magnetic field and temperature jointly modulate collective polarization dynamics, providing a biologically relevant platform for exploring coherence and transverse responses in hydrogen-bonded media.

Figures (14)

• Figure 1: Conceptual illustration of proton–proton-hole pairing along a DNA–water hydrogen bond. A schematic of a locally neutral proton–proton-hole pair at the DNA–water interface under magnetic field. Transient proton relay (H$^+$) along a hydrogen bond leaves a correlated proton hole at the donor site; many such dipoles, stabilized by the hydrogen-bond network, align and oscillate collectively. Their synchronized dynamics generate a macroscopic polarization $P(t)$ whose time derivative $J_{\mathrm{pol}}=\mathrm{d}P/\mathrm{d}t$ is detected as the transverse polarization voltage $V_{xy}$. The schematic motivates the field-induced coherent polarization mechanism underlying the experiments.
• Figure 2: Temperature-driven reorganization of the longitudinal response in hydrated DNA. A continuous temperature sweep from above $20.6\,^\circ$C down to below $12.0\,^\circ$C reveals two clear transition points in the longitudinal channels of a hydrated DNA--water matrix (500 ng/$\mu$L, 5 $\mu$L, pH $\approx 8$, $B=500~\mathrm{mT}$). (a) The longitudinal current $I_{xx}=V_{xx}/(1~\mathrm{k}\Omega)$ (shunt) shows the onset of large-amplitude, quasi-periodic fluctuations immediately below $20.6\,^\circ$C. As the temperature decreases further, the system undergoes a second reorganization near $12.0\,^\circ$C, after which the fluctuations collapse into a step-like low-temperature branch. (b) The longitudinal sample voltage $V_{xx}(\mathrm{sample})$ exhibits a parallel restructuring, with oscillatory features developing below $20.6\,^\circ$C and reorganizing again at approximately $12.0\,^\circ$C. The inset shows the zero-lag cross-correlation between $I_{xx}$ and $V_{xx}$, which displays a strong, narrow peak at lag $=0$, indicating coherent coupling between the two longitudinal channels during the temperature-driven dipolar reorganization and serving as an internal measurement-control check. All data were recorded simultaneously at a 1 Hz sampling rate.
• Figure 3: Temperature-driven onset of large-amplitude transverse polarization oscillations. A cooling sweep from $20.9\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$ to $9.4\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$ at fixed magnetic field ($B=500\,\mathrm{mT}$) shows the evolution of the transverse polarization voltage $V_{xy}$ in a $100\,\mathrm{ng}/\mu\mathrm{L}$ DNA--water sample. Above $\sim 12\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$, $V_{xy}$ exhibits only small fluctuations and slow drift. Below $\sim 12\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$, the response reorganizes abruptly into a regime of large-amplitude, nearly periodic oscillations with peak-to-peak excursions exceeding $150\,\mathrm{mV}$. The oscillations persist over the $12\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$ to $9.4\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$ interval, consistent with the emergence of a coherent transverse dipolar mode. Temperature stamps above the trace indicate the progression of the cooling sweep. Data were recorded at a sampling rate of $1\,\mathrm{Hz}$.
• Figure 4: Threshold behavior and field-induced polarization transition in hydrated DNA. Transverse polarization voltage $V_{xy}$ measured for a 500 ng/$\mu$L hydrated genomic DNA sample (pH $\approx 8$, $T=295.05$ K ($21.9\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$)) during a magnetic-field sweep. The lower horizontal axis shows the sweep index $N$, while the upper axis provides the corresponding magnetic field, which increases approximately linearly from 130 mT at $N$ = 0 to 420 mT at $N \approx 20\,000$. At the critical field $B_c$, the signal exhibits a sharp discontinuity, dropping from about 0.039 V to 0.029 V. This threshold marks the onset of a high-field branch associated with field-induced polarization dynamics in the DNA–water matrix. Beyond this point, the trace displays a slowly descending sequence of discrete, step-like features. Horizontal lines, spaced by approximately 0.8 mV, illustrate the near-regular spacing between effective plateau centers. Two distinct sources of fluctuations are present: (i) broadband noise of roughly $\pm$0.1 mV distributed along the trace, (ii) localized step-synchronous transients that occur only when the magnet position was manually updated during acquisition, and (iii) importantly, the enhanced fluctuations observed at each step do not interrupt the progression of the staircase but instead precede the formation of the next plateau. These transients do not affect the plateau spacing, which remains unchanged across independent sweeps. — full raw data at Zenodo.
• Figure 5: SdH-like polarization oscillations preceding the threshold (100 ng/$\mu$L, 5 $^\circ$C). (a) Transverse polarization voltage $V_{xy}$ recorded in a Greek-cross geometry during a continuous magnetic-field sweep from 0.10 to 0.50 T (0–500 s). (b) Simultaneous longitudinal voltage $V_{xx}$ across a 1 k$\Omega$ shunt (with $I_{xx} = V_{xx} / 1$ k$\Omega$). Regular oscillations appear between approximately 0.13 and 0.30 T. (c) FFT versus $1/B$ shows a common oscillation frequency in both channels ($F_{V_{xy}} \approx 6.31$ T and $F_{I_{xx}} \approx 6.27$ T; $\Delta(1/B) = 0.159 \pm 0.002$ T$^{-1}$). (d) Oscillatory $V_{xx}$ (proportional to $I_{xx}$) plotted versus $1/B$ with a sinusoidal fit gives $A_F = (6.0 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{16}$ m$^{-2}$ and $k_F = (1.38 \pm 0.01) \times 10^8$ m$^{-1}$. Identical $1/B$ periodicities in $V_{xy}$ and $V_{xx}$ (FFT) confirm a common polarization-coherence origin. (All data recorded at 5 $^\circ$C; by contrast, Fig. 4 was acquired at 22.3 $^\circ$C.)