RAMAN-STUDY OF INTERMULTIPLET CRYSTAL-FIELD TRANSITIONS IN SM2CUO4

Raman measurements were performed on single crystals of Sm2CuO4 in the temperature range from 300 to 10 K. We observe several Raman-active c rystal-field (CF) transitions between the lowest level of the Sm3+ H-6 (5/2) multiplet and other levels of the H-6 term. In contrast to CF el icitations observed in the isostructural material Nd2CuO4, all peaks r eported here are considerably broadened and show Lorentzian line shape s. We calculate the energies of the Sm3+ CF levels by using CF paramet ers obtained for Nd2CuO4 and find that they are in good agreement with the observed transitions. A least-squares fit of the CF parameters to the observed transition energies yields slightly improved parameters, which reproduce excellently the observed transitions.