We have studied the absorption spectra of x-ray irradiation-induced Ce2+ and Pr2+ ions in crystals of alkaline-earth fluorides. We have calculated absorption spectra of divalent praseodymium ions in SrF2 crystals doped with Pr2+ for the first time. The calculated spectra agree rather well with the experimental data. In crystals containing induced Ce2+ ions we have found strong electron-phonon coupling. In BaF2, we do not observe bands corresponded to divalent Ce or Pr ions.
Electron spin flip in atoms or ions can cause neutrino pair emission, which provides a method to explore still unknown important neutrino properties by measuring spectrum of emitted photon in association, when electroweak rates are amplified by a phase coherence among participating atoms. Two important remaining neutrino issues to be determined are the absolute neutrino mass (or the smallest neutrino mass in the three-flavor scheme) and the nature of neutrino masses, either of Dirac type or of Majorana type. Use of Raman scattered photon was recently proposed as a promising tool for this purpose. In the present work we continue along this line to further identify promising ion targets in crystals, calculate neutrino pair emission rates, and study how to extract neutrino properties from Raman scattered photon angular distribution. Divalent lanthanoid ions in crystals, in particular Sm$^{2+}$, are the most promising, due to (1) its large number density, (2) sharp optical lines, (3) a variety of available ionic levels. Rejection of amplified quantum electrodynamic backgrounds is made possible to controllable levels by choosing a range of Raman trigger direction, when Sm$^{2+}$ sites are at O$_h$ inversion center of host crystals such as SrF$_2$.
We report data on the luminescence spectra associated with photochromic centers in X-ray irradiated calcium fluoride crystals doped with Lu ions. Irradiation in low energy photochromic centers absorption band excites emission, which can be identify with transitions into photochromic centers. Ab initio calculation of absorption spectrum of photochromic center agrees rather well with experimental data.
We report a study of magnetic dynamics in multiferroic hexagonal manganite HoMnO3 by far-infrared spectroscopy. Low-temperature magnetic excitation spectrum of HoMnO3 consists of magnetic-dipole transitions of Ho ions within the crystal-field split J=8 manifold and of the triangular antiferromagnetic resonance of Mn ions. We determine the effective spin Hamiltonian for the Ho ion ground state. The magnetic-field splitting of the Mn antiferromagnetic resonance allows us to measure the magnetic exchange coupling between the rare-earth and Mn ions.
We describe an experimental technique for associating the satellite lines in a rare earth optical spectrum caused by a defect with the rare earth ions in crystal sites around that defect. This method involves measuring the hyperfine splitting caused by a magnetic dipole-dipole interaction between host ions and a magnetic defect. The method was applied to Ce3+:EuCl3.6H2O to assign 13 of the outermost 22 satellite lines to sites. The assignments show that the optical shift of a satellite line is loosely dependent on the distance to the dopant. The interaction between host and dopant ions is purely dipole-dipole at distances greater than 7 Angstroms, with an additional contribution, likely superexchange, at distances less than 7 Angstroms.
Two dimensional angular correlation of the positron annihilation radiation (2D-ACAR) spectra are measured for $mathrm{LaB}_6$ along high symmetry directions and compared with first principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). This allows the modeling of the Fermi surface in terms of ellipsoid electron pockets centered at $X$-points elongated along the $Sigma$ axis (${Gamma-M}$ direction). The obtained structure is in agreement with quantum oscillation measurements and previous band structure calculations. For the isostructural topologically not-trivial $mathrm{SmB}_6$ the similar ellipsoids are connected through necks that have significantly smaller radii in the case of $mathrm{LaB}_6$. A theoretical analysis of the 2D-ACAR spectra is also performed for $mathrm{CeB}_6$ including the on-site repulsion $U$ correction to the local-density approximation (LDA+$U$) of the DFT. The similarities of 2D-ACAR spectra and the Fermi-surface projections of these two compounds allow to infer that both $mathrm{LaB}_6$ and $mathrm{CeB}_6$ are topologically trivial correlated metals.