Table 1.
The CEF energy hierarchy in USb2
| CEF(1) (20/33/33) | CEF(2) (33/33/33) | CEF(3) (50/33/33) | CEF(4) (80/130/130) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Γ1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Γ5 (2) | 10.0 | 11.4 | 12.6 | 38.5 |
| Γ2 (1) | 13.1 | 10.8 | 8.8 | 51.6 |
| Γ3 (1) | 13.6 | 13.9 | 15.2 | 54.3 |
| ΔCEF | 27.2 | 30.8 | 37.5 | 106.0 |
The energies in millielectron volts of low-lying 5f2 multiplet symmetries are shown for four crystal field parameter sets. Parameters in the first column (CEF(1)) follow the relative energy ordering suggested in ref. 8. (S1 < S2~S3, as the S1 bond is relatively short), and are used for all simulations. The state symmetries are summarized in Supplementary Note 5, which includes an energy level diagram. ΔCEF is defined as the gap between the highest energy J = 4 CEF state and the ground state. CEF parameters listed as (S1/S2/S3) for the sites defined in Fig. 1a. These values have units of millielectron volts, and define delta function potentials for Sb atoms in the (S1) base, (S2) middle, and (S3) c-axis pinnacle of the Sb9 cage around each uranium atom. Specifically, the energy parameters indicate the energy added by a single Sb atom to an mj = 0 f-orbital oriented along the U-Sb axis. Source data are provided as a Source Data file