Rotational States of Magnetic Molecules

We study a magnetic molecule that exhibits spin tunneling and is free to rotate about its anisotropy axis. Exact low-energy eigenstates of the molecule that are superpositions of spin and rotational states are obtained. We show that parameter $α= 2(\hbar S)^2/(IΔ)$ determines the ground state of the molecule. Here $\hbar S$ is the spin, $I$ is the moment of inertia, and $Δ$ is the tunnel splitting. The magnetic moment of the molecule is zero at $α< α_c = [1-1/(2S)^{2}]^{-1}$ and non-zero at $α> α_c$. At $α\to \infty$ the spin of the molecule localizes in one of the directions along the anisotropy axis.

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