@Article{PhysRevB_87_214306, author = {P. Chakraborty and A. Tissot and L. Peterhans and L. Gu{\'e}n{\'e}e and C. Besnard and P. Pattison and A. Hauser}, title = {{Determination of the molecular structure of the short-lived light-induced high-spin state in the spin-crossover compound [Fe(6-mepy)$_3$tren](PF$_6$)$_2$}}, journal= {Phys. Rev. B}, ISSN = {1098-0121}, volume= {87}, number= {21}, pages = {214306}, url = {http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v87/i21/e214306}, eprint= {http://www.unige.ch/sciences/chifi/publis/refs_pdf/ref01362.pdf}, doi= {10.1103/PhysRevB.87.214306}, abstract = {{In the spin-crossover compound [Fe(6-mepy)$_3$tren](PF$_6$)$_2$, (6-mepy)$_3$tren = tris{4-[(6-methyl)-2-pyridyl]-3-aza-butenyl}amine, the high-spin state can be populated as metastable state below the thermal transition temperature via irradiation into the metal to ligand charge transfer absorption band of the low-spin species. At 10 K, the lifetime of this metastable state is only 1 s. Despite this, it is possible to determine an accurate excited state structure by following the evolution of relevant structural parameters by synchrotron X-ray diffraction under continuous irradiation with increasing intensity. The difference in metal-ligand bond length between the high-spin and the low-spin state is found to be 0.192 Å obtained from an analysis of the experimental data using the mean-field approximation to model cooperative effects.}}, year = {2013} }