Optical observation of spin reorientation in ErCrO₃

Abstract

The absorption spectra of ErCrO3 due to the transitions from the groundstate 4I15/2 of Er3+ to one of its excited multiplets 4I9/2 have been measured, where spin reorientation induced by temperature and by magnetic field has been observed. The Kramers splitting energies and the g-values are obtained for the ground and excited states. The effective fields acting on Er3+ are deduced to come from the erbium-chromium exchange interaction.