The atomic g values of some rare-earth atoms

Abstract

The atomic g J factors of several low-lying states in the ground multiplets of CeI, NdI, SmI, GdI, DyI and ErI have been measured by the atomic beam magnetic resonance technique. Intermediate coupling, relativistic and diamagnetic corrections recently calculated by Judd & Lindgren are shown to give good agreement with the measured g values of Nd, Sm, Dy and Er and we conclude that the ground configurations of Dyi and Eri are 4 f 10 6 s 2 and 4 f 12 6 s 2 respectively. The Gdi results are consistent with fairly pure LS coupling between the 5 d and 4 f electrons and the CeI measurements indicate a strong interaction between the ground state, which is probably 5 d 4 f 6 s 2 , 3 H , and a low-lying state from another configuration such as 5 d 2 4 f 6 s , 5 I .