Revised Measurements and Interpretation of Magnetic Properties of Oriented CeF _3 Single Crystals

We report the magnetic susceptibility and magnetization of the single-crystal CeF _3 precisely measured in external magnetic field-directed B || c and B c in wide ranges of temperatures from 1.8 to 300 K and magnetic field strength of 0–40 kG. Magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and Ce ^3+ Stark energies of CeF _3 have been calculated in the framework of the crystal field theory; good agreement with the experimental data has been achieved in the whole range of temperatures and magnetic fields without taking into account the mixed-valent Ce ^3+ -Ce ^4+ behavior or super-exchange interaction of cerium ions that have been proposed before. Anomalous behavior of the magnetic susceptibility near T ∼ 50 K is naturally explained in the crystal field model.