The crystal-field splitting of Ho3+ in HoCl3· 6H2O was calculated for the ground-state 5I8 and 10 excited J levels and compared to the observed splitting. In order to carry out the crystal-field splitting calculation, a systematic procedure was developed to obtain crystal-field parameters from a knowledge of the polarization of observed optical transitions. The crystal-field parameters for HoCl3· 6H2O resulting from a fit of 10 J levels with 84 Stark components are as follows: A20=108, A22=195, A2−2=−340, A40=−63, A42=−200, A4−2=275, A44=220, A4−4=220, A60=−4.5, A62=−117, A6−2=50, A64=240, A6−4=−80, A66=260, A6−6= −200. All parameters are in units of cm−1. By means of a least squares fit, the crystal-field parameters determined from an analysis of the holmium spectrum were used to determine the 15 crystal-field splitting parameters for Tm3+ in TmCl3· 6H2O. The crystal-field parameters for both crystals were found to agree in sign and to be close in magnitude. The calculated crystal-field splitting of J levels for both ions Ho3+ and Tm3+ agrees very well with the observed splitting. The calculated crystal-field wavefunctions for Tm3+ in TmCl3· 6 H2O were used to explain the magnetic properties of this particular salt.

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Recently Professor P. Meijer of The Catholic University of America pointed out an error in the matrix elements in the crystalline electric field (CEF) computer program which we developed to calculate the CEF splitting for H0 3 • in HoCI 3 • 6H 2 0 and Tm 3 • in TmCl a • 6H 2 0. The error affects only the energy levels of the manifolds with J = 4, 5, and 8. We are grateful to Professor Meijer f~r providing us with a copy of his CEF program which allowed us to correct our previous calculations.

Articles you may be interested inErratum: Crystalfield splitting of Ho3+ and Tm3+ J levels in hydrated chloride salts

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