Motional states of magnetic molecules and their coherent superposition

Abstract

We study the coherent superposition of motional states in magnetic molecules. The distinct time evolution of each motional state in the presence of an external magnetic field and the dynamics of the molecular rotation are found to be interrelated by a molecular orientation correlation function. The correlation of two distinct molecular orientations is then investigated in terms of a dimensionless time variable and is found to reflect the inertia of the reorientation process. The relative phase in the coherent superposition gives evidence of a continuous redistribution of the interaction energy among the motional states of the superposition. Numerical simulations are provided for the prototypical magnetic molecule O2 in its ground state. Relevance is indicated for experiments on molecular interferometry, coherent control, and quantum information.