Spin-Flip Scattering Cross Section for Conduction Electrons of Foreign Atoms in Lithium and Sodium. II

Abstract

We calculate spin-flip scattering cross sections for conduction electrons of a number of impurities in metallic lithium and sodium, in order to improve on the results reported in our earlier paper. The method uses the numerical integration of a potential which is derived from the Herman-Skillman atomic potential near the impurity, and is flat beyond a suitably chosen radius. Screening is included by requiring that the Friedel sum rule be satisfied. No parameters of the theory are adjusted to fit experimental data. The agreement for resistivity, Knight shift, and spin-flip scattering cross section is good for valence differences between impurity and host of 1 or 2. The theory gives a maximum in the cross section as the valence increases, but places the maximum at a valence difference of 4 instead of the experimentally observed value of more nearly 2.