Exchange interactions in a trigonal chromium (III) pair

Abstract

The theory of exchange interactions in the excited state of a trigonal chromium(III) pair which occurs in Cs₃Cr₂Cl₉, and first nearest neighbours in ruby, is extended to the singly excited ² T ₁, ² T ₂ and ² E(t ₂ ³) pair states. The multiplet splitting is described by an effective hamiltonian which includes trigonal field, spin-orbit coupling, first-order Zeeman effect and bilinear and biquadratic exchange. Previous calculations on the important single-ion intensity mechanism for ² E pair states are incorrect. The corrected electric dipoles for ² E and also for ² T ₁ and ² T ₂ pair states are presented.