Laser-induced artificial defects (LIADs): towards the control of the spatiotemporal dynamics in spin transition materials.

Micrometer-sized defects, induced by laser ablation, radically change the spatiotemporal dynamics of a first-order structural phase transition, in this case of a spin crossover material. This type of "domain engineering" is thus based on artificial defects, such as that in the image, which can serve either as nucleation sites or as pinning sites. The subsequent growth of the nucleated domains can also be guided to some extent.