Ultrafast spin-state photoswitching in a crystal and slower consecutive processes investigated by femtosecond optical spectroscopy and picosecond X-ray diffraction.

We report the spin state photo-switching dynamics in two polymorphs of a spin-crossover molecular complex triggered by a femtosecond laser flash, as determined by combining femtosecond optical pump-probe spectroscopy and picosecond X-ray diffraction techniques. The light-driven transformations in the two polymorphs are compared. Combining both techniques and tracking how the X-ray data correlate with optical signals allow understanding of how electronic and structural degrees of freedom couple and play their role when the switchable molecules interact in the active crystalline medium. The study sheds light on crossing the border between femtochemistry at the molecular scale and femtoswitching at the material scale. This journal is © the Owner Societies 2012