Crystal field splitting and optical bandgap of hexagonal LuFeO<inf>3</inf> films

Abstract

Hexagonal LuFeO3 films have been studied using x-ray absorption and optical spectroscopy. The crystal splitting of Fe3+ is extracted as Ee' - Ee = 0.7 eV and Ea1' - Ee' = 0.9 eV, and a 2.0eV optical bandgap is determined assuming a direct gap. First-principles calculations confirm the experiments that the relative energies of crystal field splitting states do follow E a1' > Ee' > Ee with slightly underestimated values and a bandgap of 1.35eV. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.