The role of the quadrupolar interaction in the tunneling dynamics of lanthanide molecular magnets

Quantum tunneling dominates the low temperature magnetization dynamics in molecular magnets and presents features that are strongly system dependent. The current discussion is focused on the terbium(III) bis(phtalocyanine) ( [ TbPc 2 ] − 1 ) complex that should serve as a prototypical case for lanthanide molecular magnets. We analyze numerically the effect of non-axial interactions on the magnitude of the intrinsic tunnel splitting and show that usual suspects like the transverse ligand field and Zeeman interaction fail to explain the experimentally observed dynamics. We then propose through the nuclear quadrupolar interaction a viable mechanism that mixes, otherwise almost degenerate hyperfine states.