The Raman spectra of polycrystalline orthorhombic YF3, SmF3, HoF3, YbF3, and single crystal TbF3

Abstract

The Raman spectra of the orthorhombic form of polycrystalline YF3, SmF3, TbF3, HoF3, and YbF3 have been recorded. Room-temperature, polarized Raman spectra of a single crystal of orthorhombic TbF3 have also been obtained. Based on these polarized Raman spectra, symmetry assignments have been made for 23 of the expected 24 Raman active phonon vibrations in TbF3. By analogy to the results from single crystal TbF3, tentative symmetry assignments of the observed phonon vibrations were also made for the other compounds included in this work.