EPR and optical absorption study of Cr-doped tetramethyl ammonium cadmium chloride single crystals

EPR study of Cr³⁺-doped tetramethyl cadmium chloride (TMCC) single crystals is carried out at room temperature. The crystal field and spin-Hamiltonian parameters are evaluated from the resonance line positions of different lines observed in the EPR spectra. The g and D parameter values are found to be g=1.9741±0.0002 and D=553±2×10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹, respectively. EPR data indicate that the site symmetry of Cr³⁺ ion in the crystal is distorted octahedron. Cr³⁺ ions enter the lattice substitutionally replacing Cd²⁺ sites and bind to the neighboring extra Cd vacancies necessary for charge compensation. The optical absorption spectra are measured in 195–925 nm wavelength range at room temperature. From optical study the energy values of different orbital levels are estimated. Further, the bonding parameters are obtained by correlating optical and EPR data and the nature of bonding in the crystal is discussed. The values of Racah parameters (B and C), crystal field parameter (Dq) and nephelauxetic parameters (h and k) are obtained to be B=722, C=2845, Dq=2043 cm⁻¹, h=1.015 and k=0.21.