Vibronic Coupling in Spherically Encapsulated, Diatomic Molecules: Prediction of a Renner-Teller-like Effect for Endofullerenes

In the year 1933, Herzberg and Teller realized that the potential energy surface of a triatomic, linear molecule splits into two as soon as the molecule is bent. The phenomenon, later dubbed the Renner-Teller effect due to the detailed follow-up work of Renner on the subject, describes the coupling of a symmetry-reducing molecular vibration with degenerate electronic states. In this article, we show that a very similar type of nonadiabatic coupling can occur for certain translational degrees of freedom of diatomic, electronically degenerate molecules when trapped in a nearly spherical or cylindrical quantum confinement, e.g., realized through electromagnetic fields or molecular encapsulation. We illustrate this on the example of fullerene-encapsulated nitric oxide, and provide a prediction of its interesting, perturbed vibronic spectrum.