Effect of Short-Range Spin Correlation on the Electrical Resistivity of Dilute Magnetic Alloys

Abstract

The $s-d$ exchange-interaction model has been widely used to explain many properties of magnetic metals and alloys. In particular, it has been suggested that the short-range order of the spins in a dilute magnetic alloy may give rise to the resistivity minimum effect. This paper gives a general discussion of the effect of spin correlation on the resistivity. The short-range correlation of the spins is investigated by the cluster expansion method. For dilute manganese-copper alloys where the Mn spins are believed to be coupled by the indirect exchange mechanism, the predicted variation in resistivity around the temperature where the minimum occurs is about 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the observed value. Hence, this model does not seem to explain the resistivity minimum phenomenon.