Giant Quenching of Spin-Orbit Interaction of Ga_1-xV_xP Crystals

We prove the presence of a giant quenching of the spin-orbit coupling of V²⁺ ion in GaP on the basis of a trigonal crystal field model and a complete diagonalization procedure. The calculated result is in good agreement with the experimental data of the thermally detected electron paramagnetic resonance. It was also shown that the dynamical Jahn-Teller explanation can not be excluded.