Dynamical splitting of cubic crystal field levels in rare-earth cage compounds

International audienceThe crystalline electric field (CEF) influence is usually described by considering an ideally symmetrical rare-earth site. In the case of cage compounds, ample excursions of the rare earth inside the cage require an adapted CEF description. A corrective, position-dependent, CEF term accounts for the deviation from the perfect symmetry. In the paramagnetic range, a CEF level with orbital degeneracy thus acquires a width reflecting the rare-earth spatial distribution. In the case, frequent in cubic systems, of an orbitally degenerate CEF ground state at the center, this width introduces an additional energy scale, influential at low temperature. A spherical simplification allows to identify the major consequences of a cage-split ground multiplet: a Schottky-type anomaly appears in the specific heat with associated reduction of the magnetic entropy and alteration of the magnetic properties. Concomitantly, a centrifugal Jahn-Teller effect develops that expands the distribution of the magnetic ion and softens the rattling phonons. These effects are confronted with anomalous paramagnetic properties of rare-earth cage compounds, notably rare-earth-filled skutterudites and hexaborides