Chapter 5 Low temperature heat capacity of the rare earth metals

Abstract

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the low temperature heat capacity property of the rare earth metals. The rare earth metals abound in magnetic transitions of one kind or another, which strongly influence the heat capacities of these metals. The chapter supports for the theories put forward to explain the complex magnetic behavior of these metals through heat capacity measurements. In non-magnetic metals it is found only lattice (CL) and electronic (CE) contributions. In magnetic metals, there is an additional contribution from magnetic spin waves (CM), and in the case of even-odd nuclei at very low temperatures a nuclear Schottky heat capacity (CN) is observed. Early specimens of the rare earth metals generally contained contaminating elements, such as oxygen and hydrogen. These give rise to impurity ordering effects, which mask the contributions of interest from the bulk metal at low temperatures. After the bulk of the available results on the low temperature heat capacities of the lanthanides are determined, it can be assumed that these metals can be systematically divided into two groups comprising the “light metals” from La to Eu and the “heavy metals” from Gd to Lu.