title: Atomic force microscopy and near-field optical imaging of a spin transition.
abstract: We report on atomic force microscopy (AFM) and near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) investigations of single crystals of the spin crossover complex {Fe(pyrazine)[Pt(CN)4]} across the first-order thermal spin transition. We demonstrate for the first time that the change in spin state can be probed with sub-micrometer spatial resolution through various topographic features extracted from AFM data. This original approach based on surface topography analysis should be easy to implement to any phase change material exhibiting sizeable electron-lattice coupling. In addition, AFM images revealed specific topographic features in the crystals, which were correlated with the spatiotemporal evolution of the transition observed by far-field and near-field optical microscopies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination, CNRS & Université de Toulouse (UPS, INP), 31077 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Quintero
authors.forename: Edna M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Velázquez
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartual-Murgui
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nicolazzi
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Molnár
authors.forename: Azzedine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bousseksou
mesh_terms: D056831:Coordination Complexes / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013113:Spin Labels
chemical_list: D056831:Coordination Complexes; D013113:Spin Labels; D010984:Platinum; D007501:Iron