A new approach for designing optically switchable molecular
communication devices based
on spin-exchange interactions is proposed in the present paper.
The device is constituted
from two parts, i.e., a paramagnetic block (PMB) and a coupling control
block (CCB). As a
prototype of this model, nickel nitroprusside,
Ni[Fe(CN)5NO]·5.3H2O was
synthesized, in
which the nickel ion acts as the PMB and the nitroprusside molecule
does as the CCB. In
this compound, as there is no spin on Fe, the magnetic interaction
between the neighboring
Ni cations is very weak. No magnetic phase transition can be
observed until 1.8 K.
Photoirradiation at 475 nm causes a charge transfer from the
metal, Fe, to the ligand, NO,
which induces two antiferromagnetically coupled spins on Fe and NO.
Furthermore, the
new spin on Fe interacts ferromagnetically with those on neighboring
nickels. As a result,
the spins on the Ni ions, which surround the Fe with spin, form a
magnetic cluster with S
= 5.