Analysis of Magnetization Behavior in Magnetic Semiconductor β-US₂

Abstract

β-US 2 with orthorhombic structure is narrow gap semiconductor and does not order magnetically. We study the magnetic properties of β US 2 in detail by measuring magnetic susceptibility under a magnetic field. The magnetization is understood as formation of a singlet ground state due to the crystal field effect. But the magnetization has a significant field dependence under 50 K. This behavior cannot be explained by simple crystal field effects. Analyses based on the magnetic polaron model are discussed.