Electric Deflection of Molecular Beams of the Lanthanide Di- and Trifluorides, ScF3 and YF3

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Abstract
Electric‐deflection studies on molecular beams of the lanthanide trifluorides have been carried out in the temperature range 1000–1200°C. Substantial refocussing, indicative of polar distortions, has been observed for LaF3, GdF3, and LuF3. Weaker refocussing was present in TmF3. CeF3 and ErF3 showed refocussing barely above the noise level. Defocussing was observed in PrF3, NdF3, TbF3, DyF3, and HoF3. Observations on SmF3, EuF3, and YbF3 were inconclusive due to sample reduction in the oven but showed no refocussing attributable to the respective trifluorides. ScF3 and YF3 showed refocussing of a magnitude similar to the trifluorides of La, Gd, and Lu. Deflection studies on the three known lanthanide difluorides revealed that SmF2, EuF2, and YbF2 are strongly polar molecules in the vapor phase and must, therefore, have highly bent structures.

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