Lecture 16: Paragmagnetism

There are many flavors of magnetism in solids. You're probably most familiar with ferromagnets (like your refrigerator magnets). In these materials, tiny atomic current loops (atomic electromagnets) align in order to create one larger magnet. What we talk about today is the case where the magnetic moments are too far apart to communicate how to align with each other. Rather, the moments point any which way with temperature, which is referred to as a paramagnetic phase. We discuss the origin of the magnetic moments (they come from the electron's spin and orbital angular momentum), and calculate the magnetization that results when a magnetic field is applied to the solid.

Lecture Audio