Cyanide-bridged CoFe coordination networks exhibit photomagnetism because of coupled charge-transfer and spin transition. Now, femtosecond X-ray and optical absorption spectroscopies have enabled the electronic and structural dynamics of this light-induced process to be disentangled and show that it is the spin transition on the cobalt atom, occurring within ~50 fs, that induces the Fe-to-Co charge-transfer within ~200 fs.
- Marco Cammarata
- Serhane Zerdane
- Eric Collet
