FWF - VIMOMAG - Vibrationally Induced Molecular Magnetism

Metal phthalocyanines, a highly versatile class of aromatic, planar, macrocyclic molecules with a chelated central metal ion, are topical objects of ongoing research and particularly interesting due to their magnetic properties. However, while current focus lies almost exclusively on spin-Zeeman-related effects, the high symmetry of the molecule and its circular shape suggests the exploitation of light-induced excitation of twofold degenerate vibrational states in order to generate, switch and manipulate magnetic fields at the nanoscale. The key element of this remarkable coupling is a molecular pseudorotation that can be triggered by infrared pulses and gives rise to a quantized, controllable molecular dipole moment.