Paramagnetic investigations of the pseudobinary laves phase intermetallic compounds Gd(Al 1− xMe x) 2

Abstract

The paramagnetic Curie temperature and the paramagnetic effective moment were measured for the pseudobinary compounds Gd(Al 1− x Sn x ) 2. The results are compared with those for similar systems of the type Gd(Al 1− x ) 2, where Me  Cu, Ag, Pd, In. In no case, except for the highly concentrated samples with Me  Cu and Ag, were remarkable changes of the paramagnetic effective moment observed. However, a dramatic decrease of the paramagnetic Curie temperature (Θ p) was observed for all systems. The Me metals used in the systems under investigation differ in the number of conduction electrons per Me atom. This number can be assumed to be 0 for Pd, 1 for Cu and Ag, 3 for In and Al atoms, and 4 in the case of Sn. The very sharp decrease of the paramagnetic Curie temperature, observed in all cases, is explained on the basis of band structure calculations. The crucial change of the density of states at the Fermi level as a function of concentration for Me ions with different numbers of conduction electrons seems to be responsible for the effects observed.