EPR and optical studies of Cu doped ammonium dihydrogen phosphate single crystals

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of Cu²⁺ ion in ammonium dihydrogen phosphate are studied at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Four magnetically inequivalent Cu²⁺ sites in the lattice are identified. The angular variation spectra of the crystal in the three orthogonal planes indicate that the paramagnetic impurity, Cu²⁺ enters the lattice substitutionally in place of NH₄⁺ ions. The spin Hamiltonian parameters are determined with the fitting of spectra to rhombic symmetry crystalline field. The ground state wave function of Cu²⁺ ion is constructed and found to be predominantly |x²-y²〉. The cubic field parameter (Dq) and tetragonal parameters (Ds and Dt) are determined from optical spectra at room temperature. By correlating EPR and optical absorption spectra, the bonding coefficients are calculated and nature of bonding of metal ion with different ligands in the crystal is discussed.