Magnetization and magnetic susceptibilities of GdH3, HoH3, ErH3 and YbH3

The magnetic susceptibility of powdered samples of HoH3, ErH3, GdH3 and YbH3 have been measured in the temperature range from 4.2 to 1.2 K. Two broad, local maxima are observed in the variation of chi versus T for GdH3, with maxima in (delta chi delta T) versus T at 1.8 K and 3.3 K. The inverse susceptibilities for HoH3 and ErH3 both obey a Curies-Weiss law over a limited range (4.2 to 2.6K and 4.2 to 2 K respectively) with values for the Weiss constant of -4.25 K and -1.11 K, and effective moments of 8.6 and 7.7 Bohr magnetons respectively. The susceptibility of YbH3 is independent of temperature over the range investigated. High-field magnetization measurements yield extrapolated saturation moments of 7.0 + or - 0.25 Bohr magnetons/ion for GdH3, 6.1 + or - 0.2 Bohr magnetons/ion for HoH3 and 3.74 + or - 0.11 Bohr magnetons/ion for ErH3. In addition, ErH3 exhibits a van Vleck paramagnetism in the high field region.