Single crystal EPR spectrum of Cr3+ in lanthanum lutecium gallium garnet

The Cr³⁺ EPR spectra of YAG type crystals normally consist of four peaks whose positions are dependent on the axial zero-field splitting D with axis along a 111 direction and angle between that direction and the applied field H ₀. In LLGG only three principal peaks are observed with zero-field axis nearly along x, y or z. This anomaly is attributed to the relatively small size of Cr³⁺ compared to Lu³⁺ which it displaces in an octahedral site. D varies slightly for the different zero-field axes: 0.480 cm^–1 along x, 0.429 cm^–1 along y and 0.470 cm^–1 along z. The spectroscopic splitting factor g=1.978±0.001 is essentially isotropic and independent of axes within the experimental error.