Galvanomagnetic Properties of Ferromagnetic Uranium Monosulfide

Abstract
Uranium monosulfide, a high-melting-point compound (2740°K) with a NaCl structure has been found to be ferromagnetic with a Curie point at 180°K and a saturation magnetic moment of 1.02 Bohr magnetons per atom at 0°K. Resistivity, magnetoresistance, and Hall effect measurements were made in the temperature range, 4.2°–360°K, so that these properties could be measured in the ferromagnetic and the paramagnetic solids. Sintered polycrystalline samples were used. The electrical resistivity was found to be about a hundred times larger in US than in the common ferromagnetic metals but the temperature dependence was similar showing an abnormal decrease below the Curie point. The magnetoresistance was found to be negative with a sharp minimum at the Curie point. Study of the Hall effect revealed that two Hall coefficients could be identified as in the transition metals. The extraordinary Hall coefficient related to the magnetization was found to vary as the 2.1 power of the resistivity in reasonable agreement with previous theories of this effect. The ordinary Hall coefficient related to the applied field was found to be positive and temperature-dependent with a maximum at the Curie point, whereas in the ferromagnetic metals, the Hall coefficient is found to be temperature-independent with the exception of an anomalous behavior near the Curie point. A similar anomaly is observed in US which occurs over a much wider temperature range than in the common ferromagnetic metals. The effective carrier concentration evaluated from the ordinary Hall coefficient is 0.45 holes per U atom at absolute zero. These results can be correlated with a band picture based on overlapping 7s and 5f bands, where the states in the broad 7s band contribute the major conductivity whereas the magnetic behavior is due to the unpaired spins of electrons in the narrow 5f band. Equilibrium between the bands requires a redistribution of electrons between them as the temperature varies giving rise to the observed temperature dependence of the galvanomagnetic properties. Similar measurements on isostructural ThS and UP and their solutions with US will provide a critical test of this band model.