Inverse Optically-Induced Ring Currents in Ring-Shaped Molecules

Permanent electronic ring currents are supported within manifolds of Γ(E) degenerate excited electronic states as E(±) = E(x) ± iE(y) excitations. In [ Phys. Rev. Res. 2021, 3, L042003] we showed the existence of inverse-current manifolds, where the direction of the electronic ring current in each degenerate state E(±) is opposite to the circular polarization of the generating light fields. This vibronic effect is caused by the exchange of orbital angular momentum between the electrons and …