Analysis of the ground term energy levels for triply ionized neodymium in yttrium orthovanadate

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Abstract
An investigation has been made of the 4I ground term of Nd3+ in YVO4. Wavelength and polarization measurements of the absorptions in the wavelength range 0.8–2.6 μm were used to establish energy levels for the 4F3/2, 4I9/2, 4I13/2, and 4I15/2 multiplets. These data were correlated with reported spectra in the literature, and an energy level scheme was obtained that identifies 25 out of the possible 26 ground term levels. By diagonalizing the Hamiltonian H = J λn (L⋅S)n + J B+km Ckm in an LS basis and performing a least squares calculation, an rms deviation between calculated and experimental energy levels of 4.01 cm−1 was obtained. The parameter values giving this fit are λ1=293.74, λ2=−2.454, λ3=0.0389, B20=−135.7, B40=625.9, B60=−1169.5, B44=1023.9, and B64=−251.4 cm−1. Theoretical values of g∥ = −0.915 and g⊥ = 2.379 are in good agreement with Ranon’s reported values of g∥ = ±0.915 and g⊥ = 2.348 for the ground state; thus the ground state symmetry property was determined to be Γ7,8 in S4 notation or Γ7 in D2d.