The atomic g values of some rare-earth atoms

The atomic g J factors of several low-lying states in the ground multiplets of CeI, NdI, SmI, GdI, DyI and ErI have been measured by the atomic beam magnetic resonance technique. Intermediate coupling, relativistic and diamagnetic corrections recently calculated by Judd & Lindgren are shown to give good agreement with the measured g values of Nd, Sm, Dy and Er and we conclude that the ground configurations of Dyi and Eri are 4f106s2 and 4f126s2 respectively. The Gdi results are consistent with fairly pure LS coupling between the 5d and 4f electrons and the CeI measurements indicate a strong interaction between the ground state, which is probably 5d4f6s2, 3H, and a low-lying state from another configuration such as 5d24f6s, 5I.