TY  - JOUR
AU  - Vinci, Doriana
AU  - Ridier, Karl
AU  - Qi, Fengfeng
AU  - Ardana-Lamas, Fernando
AU  - Zalden, Peter
AU  - Liu, Lai Chung
AU  - Eklund, Tobias
AU  - Jakobsen, Mads Sielemann
AU  - Schubert, Robin
AU  - Khakhulin, Dmitry
AU  - Deiter, Carsten
AU  - Bottin, Nicolas
AU  - Yousef, Hazem
AU  - von Stetten, David
AU  - Łaski, Piotr
AU  - Kamiński, Radosław
AU  - Jarzembska, Katarzyna N.
AU  - Wallick, Rachel F.
AU  - Stensitzki, Till
AU  - van der Veen, Renske M.
AU  - Müller-Werkmeister, Henrike M.
AU  - Molnár, Gábor
AU  - Xiang, Dao
AU  - Milne, Christopher
AU  - Lorenc, Maciej
AU  - Jiang, Yifeng
TI  - Capturing ultrafast molecular motions and lattice dynamics in spin crossover film using femtosecond diffraction methods
JO  - Nature Communications
VL  - 16
IS  - 1
SN  - 2041-1723
CY  - [London]
PB  - Springer Nature
M1  - PUBDB-2025-01136
SP  - 2043
PY  - 2025
AB  - A comprehensive insight into ultrafast dynamics of photo-switchable materials is desired for efficient control of material properties through light excitation. Here, we study a polycrystalline spin crossover thin film as a prototypical example and reveal the sequential photo-switching dynamics, from local molecular rearrangement to global lattice deformation. On the earliest femtosecond timescale, the local molecular structural rearrangement occurs within a constant unit-cell volume through a two-step process, involving initial Fe−ligand bond elongation followed by ligand rotation. The highly-oriented structure of the nanocrystalline films and the experimental geometry enables resolving the full anisotropic lattice structural dynamics in and out of the sample plane separately. While both molecular switching and lattice heating influence lattice volume, they exert varying degrees of impact at disparate time scales following photoexcitation. This study highlights the opportunities provided by Mega-electron-volt electron and X-ray free electron laser to advance the understanding of ultrafast dynamics of photo-switchable materials.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:40016201
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001435269000017
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57202-0
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/625583
ER  -