  We report high-resolution optical absorption spectra for NdFe3(BO3)4 trigonal
single crystal which is known to exhibit a giant magnetoelectric effect below
the temperature of magnetic ordering TN = 33 K. The analysis of the
temperature-dependent polarized spectra reveals the energies and, in some
cases, symmetries and exchange splittings of Nd3+ 84 Kramers doublets. We
perform crystal-field calculations starting from the exchange-charge model,
obtain a set of six real crystal-field parameters, and calculate wave functions
and magnetic g-factors. In particular, the values g(perpendicular) = 2.385,
g(parallel) = 1.376 were found for the Nd3+ ground-state doublet. We obtain
Bloc=7.88 T and |JFN|= 0.48 K for the values of the local effective magnetic
field at liquid helium temperatures at the Nd3+ site and the Nd - Fe exchange
integral, respectively, using the experimentally measured Nd3+ ground-state
splitting of 8.8 cm-1. To check reliability of our set of crystal field
parameters we model the magnetic susceptibility data from literature. A dimer
containing two nearest-neighbor iron ions in the spiral chain is considered to
partly account for quasi-one-dimensional properties of iron borates, and then
the mean-field approximation is used. The results of calculations with the
exchange parameters for Fe3+ ions Jnn = -6.25 K (intra-chain interactions) and
Jnnn = -1.92 K (inter-chain interactions) obtained from fitting agree well with
the experimental data.
