Magnetic Properties of GdCl3 from Gd3+ Pair Measurements in LaCl3 and EuCl3

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Abstract
Previous EPR measurements on Gd3+ pairs in LaCl3 have shown that the interactions between nearest and next‐nearest neighbors are accurately described by isotropic bilinear exchange and magnetic dipole coupling, and they indicated that the ferromagnetic ordering of GdCl3 at 2.2°K is due to dominant next‐nearest neighbor exchange. Similar measurements have now been made using EuCl3 as the host lattice. The results are similar to those in LaCl3, and since the lattice spacing in EuCl3 is very close to that of GdCl3, it is now possible to use the interaction constants measured for the Gd3+ pairs to make quantitative predictions of magnetic bulk properties of GdCl3. Excellent agreement is found for the high‐temperature susceptibility; for the specific heat, there is a small discrepancy. The measured interaction constants are close to one of a set of values recently used by Marquard to predict some highly anomalous spin‐wave spectra for GdCl3.