The magnetic properties of bismuth. II—The de Haas-van Alphen effect

Abstract

Some years ago de Haas and van Alphen showed that the variation of the magnetization of bismuth with field, which is linear at ordinary temperatures, assumes a complicated periodic character at the temperature of liquid hydrogen (20º K) and below. Later, Peierls was able to show theoretically that such an effect was to be expected in general, but that it should be marked only for metals of a special electronic structure such as bismuth. Since this non-linear field dependence of magnetization (which we shall refer to as the de Haas-van Alphen effect) is interesting in itself as a new phenomenon for diamagnetics, and in the light of Peierls's theory could be expected to give information about the electronic structure of bismuth, we have made a further experimental study of it, first confirming the features already found by de Haas and van Alphen and then examining its temperature dependence in greater detail, and and influence of allowing other elements with the bismuth.