Crystalline Electric Field and Metamagnetic Transition of PrCu₂

Abstract

We have measured the magnetic susceptibility and the magnetization of PrCu_2. These magnetic properties are highly anisotropic, which are mainly due to the orthorhombic crystalline electric field (CEF). The energy scheme of the 4f levels in PrCu_2 has been estimated by fitting the CEF theory to the susceptibility data. A new metamagnetism has been observed in the wide temperature range of 1.3 K to 50 K. The transition field increases almost linearlyfrom 10 T to 32 T with the increase of temperature from1.3 K to 50 K.