Electrical Resistivity of Polycrystalline Gadolinium from 4 to 375 °K

Electrical resistivity of high purity polycrystalline gadolinium, with a residual resistivity of about 2.4 mu OMEGA , was studied as a function of temperature between 4 and 375 deg K. Between 5 and 15 deg K, the intrinsic resistivity was proportional to T/sup n/ with n = 3.73 plus or minus 0.03. This value was close to the theoretically expected temperature dependence, T/sup 4/, of the magnetic resistivity as suggested by Mackintosh on the basis of a linear spin wave dispersion law. The electrical resistivity in the neighborhood of 210 deg K did not exhibit any anomaly of the type that would clearly support the existence of the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transformation proposed by Belov and his co-workers. The detailed resistivity behavior at the Curie temperature, 293 plus or minus 1 deg K, indicated a gradual transition from the ferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state. (auth)