Magnetic properties of ErxY1−xF3 solid solutions

The ErxY1−xF3 (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.7, 0.9, 1) solid solutions were synthesized and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and magnetic measurements. The crystal structure refinements done by the Rietveld profile method show that no significant change of the structure parameters with the erbium concentration occurs. On the basis of DC susceptibility measurements in the 2-300 K range the lowest four crystal field levels have been determined, giving the ground level magnetic moment value of 6.7 μB. Results of M(H) studies point to the presence of complex exchange interactions between erbium ions.