Negative Magnetoresistivity of ErBi and Its Crystal-Field Levels

A theoretical approach is generalized and employed in this work to evaluate the magnetoresistivity of ErBi in external magnetic fields. The calculated results and theoretical analyses show that when an external magnetic field is applied in the z-direction, the magnetoresistivity can be reduced considerably due to the degeneracy lifting of the crystal-field levels. However, when the magnetic field is exerted along the x-axis, the magnetoresistivity will be increased because of the formations of new magnetic states of the Er ion and its transitions within and between these new states.