Breaking of the selection rules for optical transitions in the dielectric PrFe3(BO3)4 crystal by a praseodymium-iron exchange interaction

We report on the emergence of new lines in the optical spectrum of the PrFe3(BO3)4 single crystal at the magnetic ordering temperature. The transitions between singlet crystal-field sublevels of Pr3+ ion with the same transformational properties, strictly forbidden for the trigonal D3 point symmetry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2009-05, Vol.102 (18), p.187403-187403
Main Authors: Popova, M N, Stanislavchuk, T N, Malkin, B Z, Bezmaternykh, L N
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We report on the emergence of new lines in the optical spectrum of the PrFe3(BO3)4 single crystal at the magnetic ordering temperature. The transitions between singlet crystal-field sublevels of Pr3+ ion with the same transformational properties, strictly forbidden for the trigonal D3 point symmetry of this ion in PrFe3(BO3)4, appear below the Néel temperature and grow in intensity as a square of the order parameter. We show that the phenomenon originates from the mixing of wave functions of different Pr3+ sublevels by the Pr-Fe exchange interaction.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.187403