Photoinduced vitrification near the surfaces of single crystals of azobenzene-based molecular materials with glass-forming ability.

Photoinduced vitrification was observed to take place near the surfaces of the single crystals of azobenzene-based molecular materials with glass-forming ability. The phenomenon was caused by repetition of the trans-cis and cis-trans isomerization reactions and hence can be regarded as a kind of photomechanical effect.