Frustration-enhanced persistent currents in correlated trimer nanorings

We investigate the persistent current in a correlated trimer nanoring comprising three magnetic atoms, which sits on a metallic host and encloses a magnetic flux. In the molecular-orbital regime, charge fluctuations can reverse the aromaticity of the trimer molecule by driving quantum phase transitions between many-body states. It is shown that in frustrated trimers the superexchange-induced current as a function of interatom hopping is enhanced by the competition of conflicting magnetic orders, with an asymmetric peak at the quantum criticality separating the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Kondo regimes. Interestingly, the critical current undergoes an anomalous rise with temperature before decaying, signaling the suppression of the Kondo bound state at finite temperature. Our results demonstrate that the coherent current response to external flux indeed conveys important information on the states of strongly correlated systems.