Electronic structure investigation of Gd intermetallics

Several Gd compounds within the Gd-Ag, Gd-Au, Gd-In, and Gd-Si series were investigated with the use of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility was measured for some of the compounds over a large temperature range to obtain accurate values of the effective magnetic moments. The chemical shifts of the core-level photoemission lines were analysed. The shift of the Gd core levels has been found to be independent of the compound stoichiometry within a Gd-M series. The valence band structure close to the Fermi level is also characteristic for each Gd-M group of compounds and may be related to their magnetic properties.