Free ions Pr IV (4\text{ f }^{2}) and Tm IV (4\text{ f }^{12}): intermediate versus LS coupling scheme

The intermediate and LS-coupling schemes for the free lanthanide ions $\text{ Pr }^{3+}$ Pr 3 + and $\text{ Tm }^{3+}$ Tm 3 + have been compared by the matrix elements of the tensor operator ${{\varvec{U}}}^{({\varvec{k}})}, \text{ k } = 2, 4, 6$ U ( k ) , k = 2 , 4 , 6 . The necessary eigenvectors and eigenvalues have been computed with the aid of four parameters, $\text{ F }_{2}, \text{ F }_{4}, \text{ F }_{6}$ F 2 , F 4 , F 6 , and $\zeta _{4\mathrm{f}}$ ζ 4 f , known from free-ion spectra of the same ions. It has been found that both coupling types for each ion lead to close values of ${\vert }{{\varvec{U}}}^{({\varvec{k}})}{\vert }^{2}$ | U ( k ) | 2 only for transitions from the ground level to certain lower-lying energy levels within the $4\text{ f }^\mathrm{N}$ 4 f N configuration.