D. Schaniel, P.
Allenspach, A. Furrer, K. Krämer and H. U. Güdel
Dimer splitting of Er3+ in Cs3Er2X9
(X = Cl, Br): mystery solved
Physica B 276-278, 690-691 (2000)
Abstract:
Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements were performed on the rare earth
dimer compounds Cs3Er2X9 (X=Cl,Br). The
crystalline electric field (CEF) parameters were determined. The lack of any
exchange splitting associated with the CEF transitions can be explained by the
large single-ion anisotropy for Er. Specific heat and susceptibility data
support the picture of an almost pure Ising system, which splits the lowest CEF
state in the presence of the dimer interaction into a non-magnetic ground-state
doublet and a magnetic excited doublet without any allowed transition between
these two dimer states.