Organic chemistry A digital fluorescent molecular photoswitch

Fluorescent properties can be useful not only for tracking individual molecules within a microenvironment, but also in molecular-scale opto-electronics. Here we use external photostimulation to switch the fluorescence on and off from a single photochromic molecule embedded in a polymer film. This digital response is due to photo-isomerization of the molecule, which may eventually find application in erasable optical data-storage elements.