  Inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed to study
manganese(II) dimer excitations in the diluted one-, two-, and
three-dimensional compounds CsMn(x)Mg(1-x)Br(3), K(2)Mn(x)Zn(1-x)F(4), and
KMn(x)Zn(1-x)F(3) (x<0.10), respectively. The transitions from the ground-state
singlet to the excited triplet, split into a doublet and a singlet due to the
single-ion anisotropy, exhibit remarkable fine structures. These unusual
features are attributed to local structural inhomogeneities induced by the
dopant Mn atoms which act like lattice defects. Statistical models support the
theoretically predicted decay of atomic displacements according to 1/r**2, 1/r,
and constant (for three-, two-, and one-dimensional compounds, respectively)
where r denotes the distance of the displaced atoms from the defect. The
observed fine structures allow a direct determination of the local exchange
interactions J, and the local intradimer distances R can be derived through the
linear law dJ/dR.
