Non-empirical calculation of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in lanthanide compounds

Affordable calculations of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and X-ray linear dichroism spectra of lanthanide ions purely based on structural input are difficult to achieve. Here we report on the successful application of ligand-field density-functional theory to obtain an exquisite reproduction of experimental spectra. As a testbed we use TbPc2 single-molecule magnets on a flat substrate.