Ligand field calculation of the lower electronic energy levels of the lanthanide monoxides

Abstract

Abstract The ligand field theory applied to the lanthanide monoxides predicts that the lower electronic states of these molecules are due to the configuration 4 f N −1 6 s (4 f N for EuO and YbO) of the divalent lanthanide ion Ln 2+ . We present here the results of a ligand field calculation of the energies of the lower electronic states for all the stable rare-earth monoxides.