Energy levels of rare-earth ions in rare-earth arsenides

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A crystal-field hamiltonian for octahedral symmetry was used along with free-ion parameters for aqueous solution to fit the reported optical absorption spectra of Er 3+ in ErAs. Parameters obtained from this fit were then used in a model to predict optical absorption spectra of Er 3+ for the 4 I 15 2 to 4 I 13 2 multiplets at 5, 74, and 300 K; these predictions showed excellent agreement with the reported experimental data at these temperatures. Consequently, we used an interpolation procedure to predict the crystal-field splittings of the lower multiplets of the rare-earth ions Tb 3+ through Yb 3+ in their respective arsenide compounds. The lowest multiplet energy levels predicted for Tm 3+ and Yb 3+ compare favorably with measurements made by inelastic neutron scattering.