On the Paramagnetic Impurity Concentration of Silicate Glasses from Low-Temperature Physics

Abstract

The concentration of paramagnetic trace impurities in glasses can be determined via precise SQUID measurements of the sample’s magnetization in a magnetic field. However, the existence of quasi-ordered structural inhomogeneities in the disordered solid causes correlated tunneling currents that can contribute to the magnetization, surprisingly, also at the higher temperatures. We show that taking into account such tunneling systems gives rise to a good agreement between the concentrations extracted from SQUID magnetization and those extracted from low-temperature heat capacity measurements. Without suitable inclusion of such magnetization contribution from the tunneling currents, we find that the concentration of paramagnetic impurities gets considerably over-estimated. This analysis represents a further positive test for the structural inhomogeneity theory of the magnetic effects in the cold glasses.