Van Vleck Paramagnets in High Magnetic Fields

We present measurements of the dc magnetization M(B) of van Vleck paramagnets, e.g. PrNi₅, at high magnetic fields up to B = 60 T. At low fields up to 10 T, we observe magnetizations which increase linearly with the applied field. Beyond 10 T, the magnetizations start to become nonlinear as the result of the shifts of the energy levels of the crystalline electrical field (CEF) states of the 4f-Pr³⁺ electrons through the external field. A significant change of slope of the magnetization M(B) as well as of the corresponding susceptibility dM/dB occurs in PrNi5 at B = 20 T which can be explained by a level crossing of the two lowest singlet CEF states. We compare our data to calculations from a point charge model.