New structural phase transition may broaden the applicability of photo-responsive solids

A team of scientists from Waseda University in Tokyo and Rigaku Corporation has discovered a new type of organic crystal structural phase transition called the photo-triggered phase transition. Hideko Koshima, a visiting professor at Waseda's Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation and leading author of the study, says, "Phase transition mechanisms are widely used in memory, switch, and actuation materials, and we believe that this discovery of a new phase transition has potential for both basic science and application fields."