Intermultiplet transitions in rare-earth metals

Abstract

We report here on direct observations of intermultiplet transitions (IMT) in the rare-earth metals, Pr, Nd and Tb, made using the chopper spectrometers at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source of Argonne National Laboratory. Despite hydrogen contamination of the polycrystalline samples, we have observed inelastic peaks at small Q arising from IM transitions in Pr (∼260 meV), Nd (∼242 meV) and Tb (∼256 meV) although the latter has not yet been observed unambiguously. Future work will investigate the energy level structure and dynamical properties of rare-earth ions in stoichiometric metallic systems.