Studies of the optical band positions and EPR g factors for Cu(H2O)6(2+) centers in Tutton salt crystals

Abstract

The optical band positions and EPR g factors g(i) (i = x, y, z) of Cu(H(2)O)(6)(2+) clusters in pure Tutton salts M(2)Cu(SO(4))(2)·6H(2)O (M = NH(4), Rb) are calculated from the complete diagonalization (of energy matrix) method based on the cluster approach. In the calculation, the superposition model with the structural data is used to obtain the crystal-field parameters. The calculated results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values, suggesting that the complete diagonalization method and superposition model are effective in the studies of optical and EPR data. The g factors g(i) of Cu(H(2)O)(6)(2+) clusters in Cu(2+)-doped isomorphous diamagnetic Tutton salts M(2)Zn(SO(4))(2)·6H(2)O are also studied from the same method. It is found that the approximately tetragonally compressed Zn(H(2)O)(6)(2+) octahedra in the host crystals change to the approximately tetragonally elongated Cu(H(2)O)(6)(2+) octahedra in the impurity centers. The causes concerning the Jahn-Teller effect are discussed. It appears that in some cases the octahedral environment of an impurity M(I) in crystals differs from that of the replaced host ion, but is close to the one in the isomorphous pure crystals where M(I) is the host ion rather than the impurity ion.