Temperature dependence of the electric field gradient in Er metal

The method of perturbed angular distributions was used to measure the temperature dependence of the electric field gradient in Er single crystal for 98 KT156 K. The I=11^– isomer in Er¹⁵⁴) was used as a probe. ₀ increases monotonically for 98 KT259 K and then decreases. A possible cause for this effect may be short range interactions between the f electrons above the Neel point.Visitor from the Weizmann Institute, Rehovoth, Israel.