K. Tanimura et S. Koshihara, Photo-induced ionic-to-neutral phase transition in tetrathiafulvalen-p-chloranil crystals, PHASE TRAN, 74(1-2), 2001, pp. 21-34
Recent experimental results are reviewed of the transformation between ioni
c and neutral phases in tetrathiafuvalen-p-chloranil crystals, induced by e
xciting the electronic states of the crystal. Spectroscopic studies have re
vealed that N phase domains are formed in the ionic-host crystal only above
threshold-excitation intensity in the case of charge-transfer excitation;
the threshold intensity depends strongly on the wavelength. On the other ha
nd, N-phase domains can be formed without threshold in the excitation inten
sity in the case of intra-molecular excitation. Also, femtosecond time-reso
lved study has shown the intensity-dependent dynamics of the N-phase domain
formation, and revealed the presence of short-lived intermediate states pr
ior forming the N-phase domain. The mechanism of the photo-induced phase tr
ansition in this crystal is discussed based on these results.