CRYSTALLINE ELECTRIC-FIELD IN THE HEAVY RARE-EARTH COMPOUNDS DYPD3, ERPD3, TMPD3, YBPD3 DETERMINED BY INELASTIC NEUTRON-SCATTERING

Inelastic neutron scattering has been employed to determine the crystalline electric field (CEF) interaction at the R3+ sites in the heavy rare-earth compounds RPd3 (R=Dy, Er, Tm, Yb). The resulting CEF parameters turn out to be incompatible with a simple electrostatic field description. In particular, the usual extrapolation scheme based on the CEF being controlled by the coordinating ligand ions cannot be applied, and there are distinct differences when comparing our results with the CEF parameters derived for the diluted analogs R0.05Y0.95Pd3. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.