Neutron spectroscopic measurements of the magnetic excitations in PrO2 reveal (1) sharp peaks characteristic of transitions between levels of the 4f1 configuration of Pr4+ split by the cubic crystal field, and (2) broad bands of scattering centred near 30 meV and 160 meV. We present a simple model based on a vibronic Hamiltonian that accounts for the main features of the data. The analysis shows that 90±10% of the Pr ions have a localized 4f1 configuration and provides strong evidence for a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in the Γ8 electronic ground state.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0101101,
title = {Localized 4f States and Dynamic Jahn-Teller Effect in PrO2},
author = {A. T. Boothroyd and C. H. Gardiner and S. J. S. Lister and P. Santini and B. D. Rainford and L. D. Noialles and D. B. Currie and R. S. Eccleston and R. I. Bewley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0101101},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
To be published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 4 pages, 2 figs