Spin transition materials: Molecular and solid-state.

In the solid state, the thermal properties of SCO materials give rise to a rich variety of behaviors, ranging from (i) simple continuous gradual spin transitions, corresponding to a Boltzmann population of two degenerate states to (ii) sharp first-order hysteretic[11] transitions, including (iii) incomplete transitions and (iv) two-step or multi-step spin transitions,[12] characterized by the presence of a macroscopic intermediate state in the course of the transition between the LS and the HS states. Ndiaye I et al i .[33] establish the existence of an isomorphism between the electro-elastic models developed for the spin transition and Ising-like models including competing interactions, which confirms the relevance of the spin models in describing the multi-step spin transitions. Indeed, due to the volume change accompanying the spin transition between the LS and the HS states, crystallography appears as a direct probe of the spin transition at several scales, giving information about the deformation of the molecular structure and its consequence on the expansion/contraction of the lattice along the spin transformation. Later on, new interesting initiatives emerge through the introduction of spin-phonon models and elastic models in which the spin states were coupled to the atomic displacements of the SCO lattice, renormalizing the ligand field to which an elastic contribution arising from the lattice is added. [Extracted from the article]