  Inelastic neutron scattering was employed to study the crystal-field
interaction in the strontium-doped rare-earth compounds R(x)Sr(1-x)CoO(3-z)
(R=Pr, Nd, Ho, and Er). Particular emphasis is laid on the effect of oxygen
deficiencies which naturally occur in the synthesis of these compounds. The
observed energy spectra are found to be the result of a superposition of
crystal fields with different nearest-neighbor oxygen coordination at the R
sites. The experimental data are interpreted in terms of crystal-field
parameters which behave in a consistent manner through the rare-earth series,
thereby allowing a reliable extrapolation for rare-earth ions not considered in
the present work.
