Magnetic and electronic properties of the LaNi5-xAlx system

Abstract

Magnetic measurements performed on the LaNi5-xAlx system show that the magnetic susceptibilities increase up to a temperature T-max, characteristic for each composition. In the temperature range T less than or equal to 10 K, a T-2-dependence of the magnetic susceptibilities was evidenced for compositions x = 0 and 1. In the high-temperature range the magnetic susceptibilities were analysed as a superposition of a Pauli-paramagnetic term on a Curie-Weiss-type contribution. The effective nickel moments decrease with increasing Al content. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and band structure calculations show that the Fermi level is gradually shifted to a region with lower density of states when Al is substituted for Ni. The magnetic behaviour of nickel was analysed in correlation with the sample composition.