Spezifische Wärme der Nitride Seltener Erden

The specific heat of rare earth nitrides has been measured at temperatures between 1.7 ans 270°K by means of an adiabatic calorimeter. The various terms contributing to the total specific heat have been separated. The total splitting of the ground-state multiplet of the trivalent RE-ions in the octahedral crystal field has been determined. The experimental values agree reasonably well with those calculated with the point charge model. The spontaneous magnetization and the magnetic specific heat below the ordering temperature are calculated with the molecular field theory by taking into account all the 2J+1 energy levels of the ground-state multiplet and including exchange interaction and crystal field splitting. Comparision is made with the experimental results, and the values obtained for the exchange energies are listed.