CUBIC ZERO-FIELD SPLITTING AND SITE SYMMETRY OF MN2+IN ZNS - REPLY

Six different numerically best-fitting sets of assignments of both the spectrum and the cubic zero-field splitting of Mn2+ in ZnS are given and compared. It is shown that among them, only the one previously adopted in the work of Zhou, Zhao, and Ning, which is being commented upon here, is physically reasonable. The difficult problem of the low-probability transition 6A1 --> 2T2 is resolved by use of the spin-orbit coupling mechanism. Thus the twofold-crystal-field model of Zhou, Zhao, and Ning is again shown to be reasonable, while the conjecture of the 4Zn + 6S coordination model is not similarly supported and should be further examined by direct experiments. The simple spectral fitting scheme with use of pure quartets by Stavrev, Kynev, Nikolov, and Dyakovitch is shown to be unsuccessful.