Influence of the Crystalline Field on the Magnetic Resistivity of Praseodymium

Abstract

Resistivity measurements on good purity polycrystalline praseodymium are reported for temperatures from 4 K to the ice-point. Many of the features of the temperature-dependence can be accounted for satisfactorily for the first time. The discovery of a conspicuous anomaly at 22.2 K is correlated with an antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition in the dhcp crystal structure. The magnetic resistivity is separated from the phonon resistivity and found to have an unusual variation with temperature. This is understandable in terms of the effect on the magnetic resistivity of the crystalline field in splitting the ground state of the magnetic praseodymium ions.