4f hybridization and band dispersion in gadolinium thin films and compounds

There is interplay between intra-atomic orbital hybridization and extra-atomic hybridization in various gadolinium systems, which affects magnetic coupling and electron itinerancy (localization). The results do not always follow expectation. The experimental band structure of thin Gd(0001) films, grown on the Mo(112) surface, along the Γ− M does not agree with expectations even qualitatively. In particular, the dispersion of the gadolinium band, with strong 5d weight near 2 eV binding energy provides considerable evidence to support the case for 4f-5d hybridization, with increasing 5d localization. On the other hand, there is also evidence of extra-atomic Gd 4f hybridization leading band dispersion in the occupied 4f levels in Gd2O3.