A soft-hard-tunable molecule-based magnet via photo-induced spin-flopping transition in a MnTEtOPP-TCNE charge transfer salt

A photo-induced spin-flopping transition was observed below 5 K, lower than the Curie temperature (T-c = 25 K), in a new charge-transfer-type magnet of manganese porphyrin derivative and tetracyanoethylene (TCNE). While the spin-flopping transition on interchain spin alignments takes place irreversibly in high external field, the transition is induced reversibly by the photoirradiation, depending on the external magnetic field. This transtion causes a drastic change in coercive force by four orders of magnitude (ca 0.5 mT to ca 2 T). (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.