Magneto-optical study of ferromagnetically coupled cobalt (II) pairs in cadmium bromide

Abstract

Low temperature polarized absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra are reported for crystals of CdBr₂ doped with varying concentrations of Co²⁺ in the region near 17 700 cm^-1. Sharp zero phonon lines are identified as the trigonal field components of U_g ′(² T _1g , ² H) in dilute crystals, and as states arising from ferromagnetically coupled in-plane pairs in the concentrated ones. Measurements of the temperature dependence of the lines, and Zeeman spectra recorded with applied fields up to 50 kG parallel and perpendicular to the crystal c-axis, lead to estimates of the anisotropy of the exchange interaction in the ground state, and to both isotropic and anisotropic exchange in the excited state. The preferred direction of spin alignment in both states is parallel to the c-axis.