Linear and nonlinear Stark effect in a triangular molecule

We analyze changes of the electronic structure of a triangular molecule under the influence of an electric field (i.e., the Stark effect). The effects of the field are shown to be anisotropic and include both a linear and a nonlinear part. For strong electron correlations, we explicitly derive exchange couplings in an effective spin Hamiltonian. For some conditions one can find a dark spin state, for which one of the spins is decoupled from the others. The model is also applied for studying electronic transport through a system of three coherently coupled quantum dots. Since electron transfer rates are anisotropic, the current characteristics are anisotropic as well, differing for small and large electric fields.