Analysis of the Eigenstates of Pr3+ in LaCl3 Using the Zeeman Effect in High Fields

Abstract

The Zeeman effect of the absorption and fluorescence spectra of Pr³⁺ in LaCl₃ has been studied at liquid nitrogen and liquid helium temperatures in magnetic fields up to 69 kG. Both linear and quadratic effects have been observed, and these are used to establish unequivocally the crystal quantum numbers of the observed energy levels. Crystal‐field theory is used to calculate the magnetic behavior of the energy levels, and good agreement is found with experiment, but some systematic deviations are also noted. The second‐order effect has been found useful in understanding the nature of these deviations, and it appears that a crystal‐field calculation fitted to the energy levels does not yield the eigenstates giving the best agreement with the observed behavior in high magnetic fields.