High-field magnetoresistance of noble metals containing rare-earth impurities

We report on magnetoresistance measurements in longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields up to 320 kG for silver and gold containing rare-earth impurities. We focus mainly on the strong anisotropy of the magnetoresistance related to the scattering of conduction electrons by the 4f quadrupoles (non-S ions) and we derive the magnitude of the electron-quadrupole interaction from the analysis of the results. We also consider the isotropic contribution to the magnetoresistance due to exchange scattering. In a number of alloys this contribution is negative in low fields, as this is usually observed in magnetic alloys, but becomes positive in high fields. This change of spin can be ascribed to crystal-field effects.