Spin-Electric Coupling, Magnetoelectricity, and Quantum Dynamics of Toroidal Moment in Lanthanide-Based Single Molecule Toroics

This review is devoted to the single molecule toroics as an implementation of the Pierre Curie’s visionary idea about the magnetoelectric molecules that are now considered as a building blocks of the future quantum computing systems. A comprehensive description of rare-earth based single molecule toroics by example of dysprosium based ring molecular nanoclusters is provided. The structure of such systems is discussed and the hierarchy of interactions in them is determined. The spin-electric Hamiltonian for such systems is derived and the magnetoelectric effect in them is quantitatively described in detail. The relation of this effect with the toroidal media is also discussed. Several aspects of the toroidal moment dynamics is also depicted, especially the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling of the toroidal moment as well as other macroscopic quantum coherent effects. The following discussion of DiVincenzo criteria applied to the case of single molecule toroics supports the idea of their usage as qubits of quantum computing systems. © The Author (s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.