114 Ch.

3 Crystal Field Theory

however, is the crystal field ground state of the f 2 configuration which

must be the same expression in terms of the J = 4, J z = rn angular
momentum eigenstates which we denote by Im)

(3.56)

(Henceforth, understanding that symmetry arguments permit us to de-

duce J = 4 states from the corresponding 1 = 4 states, we drop the cum-
bersome subscripts). It is easy to check that ( I ' l l J z ( I ' l )= (r1lJ"lI'l) =
( I ' 1 I P l I ' ~ ) = 0. There is no Curie-like term in the susceptibility of
PrSb.
On the other hand, the ground state is connected to higher-lying
states by components of J. For instance, acting with J z

(3.57)

we obtain one of the states corresponding to the F4 triplet level. The

two other r 4 states can be reached if we let J x act on II'l)

(3.58)

The equations (3.57)and (3.58) tell us that there is a Van Vleck type
susceptibility which, because of the overall cubic symmetry of the prob-
lem, must be isotropic. At T = 0 (using the Lande factor g = 0.8 which
belongs to the 3H4 multiplet)

(3.59)

-
Since the rl-r4 splitting is very small: A 7meV [140], we predict that

-
the Van Vleck susceptibility is huge. This is indeed the case: the mea-
sured value is x w 0.09p~IT(T: Tesla). It follows that for this sys-

-
the low-field susceptibility, we expect that a field of
duce a very respectable moment l p ~which ,
-
tem, laboratory fields can produce drastic effects. Extrapolating from
10T should in-
is indeed spectacular for