Magnetization, magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the crystalline electric field in (rare earth) Al₂compounds

Abstract

Magnetization measurements are reported for single crystals of PrAl 2 in the range from 4.2K to 30K for magnetic fields up to 150 kOe applied in the (100), (110) and (111) directions. For these measurements, together with the magnetization results obtained earlier for TbAl 2 the authors give a quantitative quantum mechanical description of the magnetization and the related magnetocrystalline anisotropy in terms of a cubic crystalline electric field and an isotropic exchange interaction. The parameters used in this description can be unified to good approximation to all REAl 2 intermetallic compounds where detailed experiments are available.