title: Ultrafast photoswitching in a copper-nitroxide-based molecular magnet.
abstract: Molecular compounds with photoswitchable magnetic properties have been intensively investigated over the last decades due to their prospective applications in nanoelectronics, sensing and magnetic data storage. The family of copper-nitroxide-based molecular magnets represents a new promising type of photoswitchable compounds. We report the first study of these appealing systems using femtosecond optical spectroscopy. We unveil the mechanism of ultrafast (<50 fs) spin state photoswitching and establish its principal differences compared to other photoswitchable magnets. On this basis, we propose potential advantages of copper-nitroxide-based molecular magnets for the future design of ultrafast magnetic materials.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique de Rennes, UMR UR1- CNRS 6251, Universite Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes cedex (France).
authors.forename: Wawrzyniec
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kaszub
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lorenc
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Collet
authors.forename: Elena G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Bagryanskaya
authors.forename: Evgeny V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Tretyakov
authors.forename: Victor I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Ovcharenko
authors.forename: Matvey V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Fedin
keywords: LIESST; UV/Vis spectroscopy; molecular magnets; photomagnetism; spin crossover