Abstract
Herein, the f-electron states of NdB4 were determined by observing crystalline electric field (CEF) excitations in inelastic neutron scattering experiments. The resulting CEF excitation energies were 2.8, 12.4, 17.2, and 25.4 meV. The f-electron states were simply described by one of the J-multiplets ∣±Jz〉 with negligibly small mixing. The ground state was the pseudoquartet comprising the ground doublet dominated by (Formula presented) and the first excited doublet dominated by (Formula presented) at 2.8 meV, consistent with magnetic specific heat and entropy reported in a previous study. The simple f-electron states in NdB4 were the consequence of the strong uniaxial and in-plane isotropic CEF potential due to the local structure of Nd3+ with point symmetry C2v.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 054705 |
| Journal | Journal of the Physical Society of Japan |
| Volume | 94 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 15 2025 |
Funding
Acknowledgments The neutron scattering experiment at the ORNL was supported by the U.S.–Japan Cooperative Program on Neutron Scattering. The research at ORNL’s HFIR was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). A portion of this research used resources at the HFIR, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the ORNL. The neutron experiment at the MLF of the J-PARC was performed under a user program (Proposal No. 2017A0231). We would like to thank Dr. M. Yoshida for valuable discussions and his help on experiments. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. JP25390133) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The neutron scattering experiment at the ORNL was supported by the U.S.–Japan Cooperative Program on Neutron Scattering. The research at ORNL’s HFIR was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). A portion of this research used resources at the HFIR, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the ORNL. The neutron experiment at the MLF of the J-PARC was performed under a user program (Proposal No. 2017A0231). We would like to thank Dr. M. Yoshida for valuable discussions and his help on experiments. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. JP25390133) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.