Crystalline electric fields of rare-earth ions in metals I. Theory

Abstract

A simple model has been used to estimate the effect of conduction electrons upon the crystalline field potential due to the periodic array of surrounding ions. The conduction electrons have been assumed to be non-interacting and described by a plane wave orthogonalized to all 4f orbitals except one and to all the occupied orbitals of the rare earth and its neighbours. The model, in qualitative agreement with experiment, predicts an enhancement of the crystalline electric field parameters.