Abstract
Investigations of the low-lying energy levels of PrVO4 using fluorescence, Raman and far infrared spectroscopy give the energies of the first excited singlet and doublet as about 35 cm-1 and 84 cm-1, respectively, above the ground singlet. Detailed measurements of the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of 141Pr show that the temperature variation up to 20K of the spin-Hamiltonian parameters gamma /sub ///, gamma perpendicular to and P can be accurately fitted by thermal averages over these three levels. The positions of the remaining levels of the 3H4 manifold are estimated by an extrapolation procedure based on properties of a crystal field Hamiltonian with tetragonal symmetry.