Light-Induced Excited Spin-State Trapping has been studied since 1982 in solution and 1984 in solid state as it offers a reversible way of photoswitching the electronic configuration of spin crossover systems. Since then, the lifetime of the photo-induced state was deeply investigated through kinetics measurements. In 1998, a fast and easy way to record the limit temperature above which the photo-induced state is erased, denoted T(LIESST), was introduced. This procedure has been widely used in the spin crossover community due to its easiness and its efficiency to provide detailed information on the photo-induced state. Correlations between T(LIESST) and structural parameters have been proposed for instance. However, it intrinsically contains drawbacks that can lead to misinterpretation of behaviours and can lead to an over-estimation of its scope. This review aims to present and discuss not only the correct way to measure T(LIESST) but also the essential contributions it has brought and the limits not to be exceeded in its interpretation.

We report the spin state photo-switching dynamics in two polymorphs of a spin-crossover molecular complex triggered by a femtosecond laser flash, as determined by combining femtosecond optical pump-probe spectroscopy and picosecond X-ray diffraction techniques,. The light-driven transformations in the two polymorphs are compared. Combining both techniques and tracking how the X-ray data correlate with optical signals allows understanding of how electronic and structural degrees of freedom couple and play their role when the switchable molecules interact in the active crystalline medium. The study sheds light on crossing the border between femtochemistry at the molecular scale and femtoswitching at the material scale

We discuss here the important role of intermolecular coupling for the thermal-and light-induced molecular state switching in the solid state. Investigations were performed on the two crystalline polymorphs of the spin-crossover [Fe-(PM-BIA) 2 (NCS) 2 ] material. In addition to structural studies at thermal equilibrium, lightinduced phenomena were investigated through photocrystallography, photomagnetic, and dynamical optical measurements. Strong similarities between the thermal-equilibrium and the out-of-equilibrium light-induced transformations are observed in each polymorph: strong cooperative phenomena in one polymorph versus weak cooperative ones in the second polymorph. These different responses of the two crystalline forms of the compound to external perturbations are discussed at the microscopic level in terms of Ising-like model and two-mode description of on-site molecular potentials.