The effect of a weak uniform magnetic field on the electronic structure of slightly deformed fullerene molecules is studied within the continuum field-theory model. It is shown that fine structure of the electronic energy spectrum is very sensitive to the orientation of the magnetic field. In particular, we found that the magnetic field pointed in the $x$ direction does not influence the first electronic level whereas it causes a splitting of the second energy level. This behavior differs markedly from the case of the magnetic field pointed in the $z$ direction, where $z$ is chosen to be the symmetry axis of the fullerene.

• Received 13 March 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.75.065201