Photosensitive Magnetic Switches

Abstract

MATERIALS SCIENCE Some photosensitive molecules can undergo reversible structural transitions that result in significant changes in the optical properties; this class of molecules can be used as optical switches. There is evidence that suggests that careful design of the bonding arrangement within a molecule could produce magnetic behavior as well. Exploiting both the photostructural sensitivity and the magnetic properties of molecular materials would create the potential to develop a large breadth of applications, but the successful union of these characteristics has been hard to attain. Nakatani and Yu present a short status report on this developing field and find that the incorporation of organic photochromes (cationic spiropyrans) into molecular magnetic systems yields light-induced switching of the magnetic properties. Although the switching proceeds only at cryogenic temperatures, the demonstration of the principle is encouraging. — ISO Adv . Mater . 13 , 1411 (2001).