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Magnetic properties ofLiBeH3andLi2BeH4
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Magnetic properties ofLiBeH3andLi2BeH4

Victor Souw, Shi Li, Patricia Metcalf, Michael McElfresh and Louis Messerle
Physical review. B, Condensed matter, Vol.65(9), 094510
02/2002
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.65.094510

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Abstract

LiBeH3 and Li2BeH4 have previously been proposed as candidates for high-temperature superconductivity because positions of hydrogen atoms in the respective crystal structures may lead to the formation of hydrogen-atom-based conduction bands. In the present work, the magnetization of LiBeH3 and Li2BeH4 was measured as a function of applied magnetic field and temperature with a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. Small magnetic-susceptibility values and the highly reactive nature of the samples led to the use of a background correction procedure involving the raw SQUID data. The magnetization data for LiBeH3 and Li2BeH4 samples appear to exhibit a superposition of both weak diamagnetic and superparamagnetic behaviors, and show no irreversibility with respect to either temperature or applied magnetic field within experimental uncertainty. At T=300K, diamagnetic components of susceptibilities are observed to be −3.3±0.1×10−6emu/mol for LiBeH3 and −3.1±0.1×10−6emu/mol for Li2BeH4. Furthermore, the possible origin of the observed superparamagnetic contribution is discussed. These measurements are contrasted with previous work, which had suggested that the magnetic behavior of Li2BeH4 could be related to type-II superconductivity.

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