Induced neutron magnetic form factor of LaSn3

Polarized neutron scattering techniques have been used to study the spatial distribution of the magnetization induced in a single crystal of LaSn₃ by a magnetic field of 42.5 kG at 100 K. We find that the magnetic form factor decreases very rapidly with increasing scattering angle, and bears no resemblance to the spin or orbital free-atom magnetic form factor. The experimental results are in reasonable agreement with band theoretical calculations of the spin magnetic form factor of LaSn₃. We conclude that (a) the spin part is the dominant contribution to the bulk susceptibility of LaSn₃ and (b) there is a substantial amount of Sn-5p electronic character in the wavefunctions near the Fermi level.