Phase transitions and crystal-field and exchange interactions in TbFe3(BO3)4 as seen via optical spectroscopy

High-resolution polarized broadband (1800-23?000?cm(-1)) optical absorption spectra of Tb(3+) in TbFe(3)(BO(3))(4) single crystals are studied between room temperature and 4.2?K. The spectral signatures of the structural (R32-P3(1)21, T(S )?=?192?K) and magnetic (T(N )?=?41?K) phase transitions are found and analyzed. Energies and symmetries of the Tb(3+) crystal-field (CF) levels were determined for both the high-temperature R32 and the low-temperature P3(1)21 structures of TbFe(3)(BO(3))(4) and compared with the calculated ones. It follows unambiguously from the spectral data that the ground state is the Γ(1)?+?Γ(2) quasi-doublet of the local D(3) point symmetry group for Tb(3+) in the R32 high-temperature structure. The CF calculations revealed the CF parameters and wavefunctions for Tb(3+) in TbFe(3)(BO(3))(4). The value of the Tb-Fe exchange integral and of the effective magnetic field created by the ordered Fe subsystem were estimated as J(fd)?=?0.26?K and B(eff)?=?3.92?T, using the observed splitting Δ?=?32?cm(-1) of the Tb(3+) ground quasi-doublet at the temperature 5?K. The reliability of the obtained parameters was proven by modeling the literature data on the magnetic susceptibility of TbFe(3)(BO(3))(4). Lattice distortions below T(S) were evidenced by the observed changes of probabilities of the forced electric dipole transitions of Tb(3+).