Magnetic circular dichroism of Nd3+ and Yb3+ ions in LiNbO3 crystals

Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of trivalent rare earth doped lithium nio bate crystals is reported for the first time. Magneto-optical signals of Nd 3+ and Yb3+ ions have been studied at 2 K as a function of the magnetic fie ld strength up to 5 T. This study allows the identification of the Zeeman s ublevels of these ions, which can be labeled by irreducible representations (Gamma(4), Gamma(5), or Gamma(6)), so that the sign and allowance of trans itions can be predicted. From the dependence of suitable MCD spectral lines on the magnetic field strength, the effective gyromagnetic factor of the g round state has been determined for both ions: (g(Nd))(parallel to)=1.4 +/- 0.1 and; (g(Yb))(parallel to)=4.7 +/- 0.1. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)70237-0].