Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

Committee Chair

Larry Halliburton

Abstract

Electron paramagnetic resonance has been used to study Gd3+ impurities in single crystals of yttrium vanadate (YVO4). The Gd3+ ions have a 4f7 configuration and substitute for the Y3+ ions in the YVO4 lattice. Both undoped and Gd-doped YVO4 crystals have been investigated at room temperature. The angular dependence of the Gd3+ ions was measured in the c to a plane and in the a to a plane. These data were analyzed using a spin Hamiltonian with S = 7/2. The g matrix, obtained from the angular dependence, confirms that the Gd3+ ions reflect the tetragonal symmetry of the lattice. The five crystal field parameters describing this spin system are obtained by fitting the angular dependence. The set of parameters obtained in the present study are compared to results reported by previous investigators

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