Magnetic properties of liquid alloys of tellurium and thallium

Abstract Knight shifts K and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation times T 1 of the 125Te nucleus in the liuid Te-Tl system have been measured as a function of concentration in the range Te100 to Te30Tl70, and where possible as a function of temperature also. At 750 K, the shift measured with respect to solid tellurium decreases from +0.38% to −0.08% across this composition range whereas T 1 remains at approximately 200 μs over most of the range. Correlation of the temperature dependences of total magnetic susceptibility and Knight shift shows that changes in K are principally due to changes in density of states at the Fermi level rather than in the electronic wavefunction at tellurium nuclei. In the region near Te30Tl70 where the density of states is low, T 1 is considerably shorter than that predicted from the Korringa relation and the observed shift. This is interpreted as due to partial localization of the conduction electrons.