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EPR investigations of Fe/sup 3 +/ in single crystals and powders of the zircon-structure orthophosphates LuPO/sub 4/, YPO/sub 4/, and ScPO/sub 4/

Journal Article · · J. Chem. Phys.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5770747

Iron-doped single crystals of the zircon-structure orthophosphates LuPO/sub 4/, YPO/sub 4/, and ScPO/sub 4/ have been grown by means of a flux technique. Corresponding powders have been prepared independently by a urea precipitation technique and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements demonstrate that the Fe/sup 3 +/ impurity is situated in the same substitutional site in both the single crystals and the powders for all three hosts. The sign of the crystal field parameter b/sup 0//sub 2/ is shown to be positive (opposite to that found for Gd/sup 3 +/ in these hosts). The crystal-field splittings were found to be largest for the scandium host and smallest for the yttrium host. The EPR results show that iron can be incorporated in a substitutional crystallographic site in material prepared by either a high temperature process or by a low temperature precipitation and calcination (approx.800 /sup 0/C), and these findings have implications for the use of lanthanide and related orthophosphates as a host material for the isolation of nuclear wastes.

Research Organization:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830
OSTI ID:
5770747
Journal Information:
J. Chem. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 76:1; ISSN JCPSA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English