Interband Effects on Magnetic Susceptibility. II. Diamagnetism of Bismuth

Abstract

The magnetic susceptibility of conduction electrons in the presence of spin-orbit interaction is calculated. The model is that due to Wolff which assumes two bands separated by a small energy gap. Our calculation shows that due to the interband effect of the magnetic field the susceptibility has a large contribution to diamagnetism when the Fermi energy lies in the band gap region. This result is applied to bismuth, and possible interpretations are proposed for the dependence of its magnetic property on the effective valence number and the cause of the anisotropy.