Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby some materials are weakly attracted by

an externally applied magnetic field, and form internal, induced magnetic fields in
the direction of the applied magnetic field. In contrast with this behavior,
diamagnetic materials are repelled by magnetic fields and form induced magnetic
fields in the direction opposite to that of the applied magnetic field.[1]
Paramagnetic materials include most chemical elements and some compounds;[2] they
have a relative magnetic permeability slightly greater than 1 (i.e., a small
positive magnetic susceptibility) and hence are attracted to magnetic fields. The
magnetic moment induced by the applied field is linear in the field strength and
rather weak. It typically requires a sensitive analytical balance to detect the
effect and modern measurements on paramagnetic materials are often conducted with a
SQUID magnetometer.

Paramagnetism is due to the presence of unpaired electrons in the material, so most

atoms with incompletely filled atomic orbitals are paramagnetic, although
exceptions such as copper exist. Due to their spin, unpaired electrons have a
magnetic dipole moment and act like tiny magnets. An external magnetic field causes
the electrons' spins to align parallel to the field, causing a net attraction.
Paramagnetic materials include aluminium, oxygen, titanium, and iron oxide (FeO).
Therefore, a simple rule of thumb is used in chemistry to determine whether a
particle (atom, ion, or molecule) is paramagnetic or diamagnetic:[3] if all
electrons in the particle are paired, then the substance made of this particle is
diamagnetic; if it has unpaired electrons, then the substance is paramagnetic.

Unlike ferromagnets, paramagnets do not retain any magnetization in the absence of

an externally applied magnetic field because thermal motion randomizes the spin
orientations. (Some paramagnetic materials retain spin disorder even at absolute
zero, meaning they are paramagnetic in the ground state, i.e. in the absence of
thermal motion.) Thus the total magnetization drops to zero when the applied field
is removed. Even in the presence of the field there is only a small induced
magnetization because only a small fraction of the spins will be oriented by the
field. This fraction is proportional to the field strength and this explains the
linear dependency. The attraction experienced by ferromagnetic materials is non-
linear and much stronger, so that it is easily observed, for instance, in the
attraction between a refrigerator magnet and the iron of the refrigerator itself.

Relation to electron spins

Paramagnetism, ferromagnetism and spin waves
Constituent atoms or molecules of paramagnetic materials have permanent magnetic
moments (dipoles), even in the absence of an applied field. The permanent moment
generally is due to the spin of unpaired electrons in atomic or molecular electron
orbitals (see Magnetic moment). In pure paramagnetism, the dipoles do not interact
with one another and are randomly oriented in the absence of an external field due
to thermal agitation, resulting in zero net magnetic moment. When a magnetic field
is applied, the dipoles will tend to align with the applied field, resulting in a
net magnetic moment in the direction of the applied field. In the classical
description, this alignment can be understood to occur due to a torque being
provided on the magnetic moments by an applied field, which tries to align the
dipoles parallel to the applied field. However, the true origins of the alignment
can only be understood via the quantum-mechanical properties of spin and angular
momentum.

If there is sufficient energy exchange between neighbouring dipoles, they will

interact, and may spontaneously align or anti-align and form magnetic domains,
resulting in ferromagnetism (permanent magnets) or antiferromagnetism,
respectively. Paramagnetic behavior can also be observed in ferromagnetic materials
that are above their Curie temperature, and in antiferromagnets above their Néel
temperature. At these temperatures, the available thermal energy simply overcomes
the interaction energy between the spins.
In general, paramagnetic effects are quite small: the magnetic susceptibility is of
the order of 10−3 to 10−5 for most paramagnets, but may be as high as 10−1 for
synthetic paramagnets such as ferrofluids.

Delocalization
Selected Pauli-paramagnetic metals[4]
Material Magnetic susceptibility,
𝜒
𝑣
{\displaystyle \chi _{v}} [10−5]
(SI units)

Tungsten 6.8
Caesium 5.1
Aluminium 2.2
Lithium 1.4
Magnesium 1.2
Sodium 0.72
In conductive materials, the electrons are delocalized, that is, they travel
through the solid more or less as free electrons. Conductivity can be understood in
a band structure picture as arising from the incomplete filling of energy bands. In
an ordinary nonmagnetic conductor the conduction band is identical for both spin-up
and spin-down electrons. When a magnetic field is applied, the conduction band
splits apart into a spin-up and a spin-down band due to the difference in magnetic
potential energy for spin-up and spin-down electrons. Since the Fermi level must be
identical for both bands, this means that there will be a small surplus of the type
of spin in the band that moved downwards. This effect is a weak form of
paramagnetism known as Pauli paramagnetism.

The effect always competes with a diamagnetic response of opposite sign due to all
the core electrons of the atoms. Stronger forms of magnetism usually require
localized rather than itinerant electrons. However, in some cases a band structure
can result in which there are two delocalized sub-bands with states of opposite
spins that have different energies. If one subband is preferentially filled over
the other, one can have itinerant ferromagnetic order. This situation usually only
occurs in relatively narrow (d-)bands, which are poorly delocalized.

s and p electrons
Generally, strong delocalization in a solid due to large overlap with neighboring
wave functions means that there will be a large Fermi velocity; this means that the
number of electrons in a band is less sensitive to shifts in that band's energy,
implying a weak magnetism. This is why s- and p-type metals are typically either
Pauli-paramagnetic or as in the case of gold even diamagnetic. In the latter case
the diamagnetic contribution from the closed shell inner electrons simply wins over
the weak paramagnetic term of the almost free electrons.

d and f electrons
Stronger magnetic effects are typically only observed when d or f electrons are
involved. Particularly the latter are usually strongly localized. Moreover, the
size of the magnetic moment on a lanthanide atom can be quite large as it can carry
up to 7 unpaired electrons in the case of gadolinium(III) (hence its use in MRI).
The high magnetic moments associated with lanthanides is one reason why superstrong
magnets are typically based on elements like neodymium or samarium.

Molecular localization
The above picture is a generalization as it pertains to materials with an extended
lattice rather than a molecular structure. Molecular structure can also lead to
localization of electrons. Although there are usually energetic reasons why a
molecular structure results such that it does not exhibit partly filled orbitals
(i.e. unpaired spins), some non-closed shell moieties do occur in nature. Molecular
oxygen is a good example. Even in the frozen solid it contains di-radical molecules
resulting in paramagnetic behavior. The unpaired spins reside in orbitals derived
from oxygen p wave functions, but the overlap is limited to the one neighbor in the
O2 molecules. The distances to other oxygen atoms in the lattice remain too large
to lead to delocalization and the magnetic moments remain unpaired.

Theory
The Bohr–Van Leeuwen theorem proves that there cannot be any diamagnetism or
paramagnetism in a purely classical system. The paramagnetic response has then two
possible quantum origins, either coming from permanent magnetic moments of the ions
or from the spatial motion of the conduction electrons inside the material. Both
descriptions are given below.

Curie's law
Main article: Curie's law
For low levels of magnetization, the magnetization of paramagnets follows what is
known as Curie's law, at least approximately. This law indicates that the
susceptibility,
𝜒{\displaystyle \chi }, of paramagnetic materials is inversely proportional to
their temperature, i.e. that materials become more magnetic at lower temperatures.
The mathematical expression is:

𝑀
=
𝜒
𝐻
=
𝐶
𝑇
𝐻
{\displaystyle \mathbf {M} =\chi \mathbf {H} ={\frac {C}{T}}\mathbf {H} }
where:
𝑀
{\displaystyle \mathbf {M} } is the resulting magnetization, measured in
amperes/meter (A/m),
𝜒{\displaystyle \chi } is the volume magnetic susceptibility (dimensionless),
𝐻
{\displaystyle H} is the auxiliary magnetic field (A/m),
𝑇
{\displaystyle T} is absolute temperature, measured in kelvins (K),
𝐶
{\displaystyle C} is a material-specific Curie constant (K).
Curie's law is valid under the commonly encountered conditions of low magnetization
(μBH ≲ kBT), but does not apply in the high-field/low-temperature regime where
saturation of magnetization occurs (μBH ≳ kBT) and magnetic dipoles are all aligned
with the applied field. When the dipoles are aligned, increasing the external field
will not increase the total magnetization since there can be no further alignment.

For a paramagnetic ion with noninteracting magnetic moments with angular momentum
J, the Curie constant is related to the individual ions' magnetic moments,

𝐶
=
𝑛
3
𝑘
B
𝜇
e
f
f
2
where
𝜇
e
f
f
=
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐽
(
𝐽
+
1
)
.
{\displaystyle C={\frac {n}{3k_{\mathrm {B} }}}\mu _{\mathrm {eff} }^{2}{\
text{ where }}\mu _{\mathrm {eff} }=g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }{\sqrt {J(J+1)}}.}
where n is the number of atoms per unit volume. The parameter μeff is interpreted
as the effective magnetic moment per paramagnetic ion. If one uses a classical
treatment with molecular magnetic moments represented as discrete magnetic dipoles,
μ, a Curie Law expression of the same form will emerge with μ appearing in place of
μeff.

Derivation
Curie's Law can be derived by considering a substance with noninteracting magnetic
moments with angular momentum J. If orbital contributions to the magnetic moment
are negligible (a common case), then in what follows J = S. If we apply a magnetic
field along what we choose to call the z-axis, the energy levels of each
paramagnetic center will experience Zeeman splitting of its energy levels, each
with a z-component labeled by MJ (or just MS for the spin-only magnetic case).
Applying semiclassical Boltzmann statistics, the magnetization of such a substance
is

𝑛
𝑚
¯
=
𝑛
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝜇
𝑀
𝐽
𝑒
−
𝐸
𝑀
𝐽
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑒
−
𝐸
𝑀
𝐽
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
=
𝑛
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝑒
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑒
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
.
{\displaystyle n{\bar {m}}={\frac {n\sum \limits _{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{\mu _{M_{J}}e^{{-
E_{M_{J}}}/{k_{\mathrm {B} }T}\;}}}{\sum \limits
_{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{e^{{-E_{M_{J}}}/{k_{\mathrm {B} }T}\;}}}}={\frac {n\sum \limits
_{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }e^{{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B}
}H}/{k_{\mathrm {B} }T}\;}}}{\sum \limits _{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{e^{{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\
mathrm {B} }H}/{k_{\mathrm {B} }T}\;}}}}.}
Where
𝜇
𝑀
𝐽
{\displaystyle \mu _{M_{J}}} is the z-component of the magnetic moment for each
Zeeman level, so
𝜇
𝑀
𝐽
=
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
−
𝜇
B
{\displaystyle \mu _{M_{J}}=M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }-\mu _{\mathrm {B} }} is
called the Bohr magneton and gJ is the Landé g-factor, which reduces to the free-
electron g-factor, gS when J = S. (in this treatment, we assume that the x- and y-
components of the magnetization, averaged over all molecules, cancel out because
the field applied along the z-axis leave them randomly oriented.) The energy of
each Zeeman level is
𝐸
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
{\displaystyle E_{M_{J}}=-M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H}. For temperatures over a
few K,
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
≪
1
{\displaystyle M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\ll 1}, and we can
apply the approximation
𝑒
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
≃
1
+
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
{\displaystyle e^{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;}\simeq
1+M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;}:

𝑚
¯
=
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝑒
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑒
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
≃
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑀
𝐽
(
1
+
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
)
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
(
1
+
𝑀
𝐽
𝑔
𝐽
𝜇
B
𝐻
/
𝑘
B
𝑇
)
=
𝑔
𝐽
2
𝜇
B
2
𝐻
𝑘
B
𝑇
∑
−
𝐽
𝐽
𝑀
𝐽
2
∑
𝑀
𝐽
=
−
𝐽
𝐽
(
1
)
,
{\displaystyle {\bar {m}}={\frac {\sum \limits _{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\
mathrm {B} }e^{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;}}}{\sum \limits
_{M_{J}=-J}^{J}e^{M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;}}}\simeq
g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }{\frac {\sum \limits _{M_{J}=-J}^{J}M_{J}\
left(1+M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;\right)}{\sum \limits
_{M_{J}=-J}^{J}\left(1+M_{J}g_{J}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H/k_{\mathrm {B} }T\;\
right)}}={\frac {g_{J}^{2}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }^{2}H}{k_{\mathrm {B} }T}}{\frac {\sum
\limits _{-J}^{J}M_{J}^{2}}{\sum \limits _{M_{J}=-J}^{J}{(1)}}},}
which yields:
𝑚
¯
=
𝑔
𝐽
2
𝜇
B
2
𝐻
3
𝑘
B
𝑇
𝐽
(
𝐽
+
1
)
.
{\displaystyle {\bar {m}}={\frac {g_{J}^{2}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }^{2}H}{3k_{\mathrm
{B} }T}}J(J+1).}
The bulk magnetization is then
𝑀
=
𝑛
𝑚
¯
=
𝑛
3
𝑘
B
𝑇
[
𝑔
𝐽
2
𝐽
(
𝐽
+
1
)
𝜇
B
2
]
𝐻
,
{\displaystyle M=n{\bar {m}}={\frac {n}{3k_{\mathrm {B} }T}}\left[g_{J}^{2}J(J+1)\
mu _{\mathrm {B} }^{2}\right]H,} and the susceptibility is given by
𝜒
=
∂
𝑀
m
∂
𝐻
=
𝑛
3
𝑘
B
𝑇
𝜇
e
f
f
2
; and
𝜇
e
f
f
=
𝑔
𝐽
𝐽
(
𝐽
+
1
)
𝜇
B
.
{\displaystyle \chi ={\frac {\partial M_{\rm {m}}}{\partial H}}={\frac {n}{3k_{\rm
{B}}T}}\mu _{\mathrm {eff} }^{2}{\text{ ; and }}\mu _{\mathrm {eff} }=g_{J}
{\sqrt {J(J+1)}}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }.}
When orbital angular momentum contributions to the magnetic moment are small, as
occurs for most organic radicals or for octahedral transition metal complexes with
d3 or high-spin d5 configurations, the effective magnetic moment takes the form
( with g-factor ge = 2.0023... ≈ 2),

𝜇
e
f
f
≃
2
𝑆
(
𝑆
+
1
)
𝜇
B
=
𝑁
u
(
𝑁
u
+
2
)
𝜇
B
,
{\displaystyle \mu _{\mathrm {eff} }\simeq 2{\sqrt {S(S+1)}}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }={\
sqrt {N_{\rm {u}}(N_{\rm {u}}+2)}}\mu _{\mathrm {B} },}
where Nu is the number of unpaired electrons. In other transition metal complexes
this yields a useful, if somewhat cruder, estimate.
When Curie constant is null, second order effects that couple the ground state with
the excited states can also lead to a paramagnetic susceptibility independent of
the temperature, known as Van Vleck susceptibility.

Pauli paramagnetism
For some alkali metals and noble metals, conduction electrons are weakly
interacting and delocalized in space forming a Fermi gas. For these materials one
contribution to the magnetic response comes from the interaction between the
electron spins and the magnetic field known as Pauli paramagnetism. For a small
magnetic field
𝐻
{\displaystyle \mathbf {H} }, the additional energy per electron from the
interaction between an electron spin and the magnetic field is given by:

Δ
𝐸
=
−
𝜇
0
𝐻
⋅
𝜇
𝑒
=
−
𝜇
0
𝐻
⋅
(
−
𝑔
𝑒
𝜇
B
ℏ
𝑆
)
=
±
𝜇
0
𝜇
B
𝐻
,
{\displaystyle \Delta E=-\mu _{0}\mathbf {H} \cdot {\boldsymbol {\mu }}_{e}=-\mu
_{0}\mathbf {H} \cdot \left(-g_{e}{\frac {\mu _{\mathrm {B} }}{\hbar }}\mathbf
{S} \right)=\pm \mu _{0}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }H,}
where
𝜇
0
{\displaystyle \mu _{0}} is the vacuum permeability,
𝜇
𝑒
{\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\mu }}_{e}} is the electron magnetic moment,
𝜇
B
{\displaystyle \mu _{\rm {B}}} is the Bohr magneton,
ℏ{\displaystyle \hbar } is the reduced Planck constant, and the g-factor cancels
with the spin
𝑆
=
±
ℏ
/
2
{\displaystyle \mathbf {S} =\pm \hbar /2}. The
±{\displaystyle \pm } indicates that the sign is positive (negative) when the
electron spin component in the direction of
𝐻
{\displaystyle \mathbf {H} } is parallel (antiparallel) to the magnetic field.

In a metal, the application of an external magnetic field increases the density of

electrons with spins antiparallel with the field and lowers the density of the
electrons with opposite spin. Note: The arrows in this picture indicate spin
direction, not magnetic moment.
For low temperatures with respect to the Fermi temperature
𝑇
F
{\displaystyle T_{\rm {F}}} (around 104 kelvins for metals), the number density of
electrons
𝑛
↑{\displaystyle n_{\uparrow }} (
𝑛
↓{\displaystyle n_{\downarrow }}) pointing parallel (antiparallel) to the magnetic
field can be written as:

𝑛
↑
≈
𝑛
𝑒
2
−
𝜇
0
𝜇
B
2
𝑔
(
𝐸
F
)
𝐻
;
(
𝑛
↓
≈
𝑛
𝑒
2
+
𝜇
0
𝜇
B
2
𝑔
(
𝐸
F
)
𝐻
)
,
{\displaystyle n_{\uparrow }\approx {\frac {n_{e}}{2}}-{\frac {\mu _{0}\mu _{\
mathrm {B} }}{2}}g(E_{\mathrm {F} })H\quad ;\quad \left(n_{\downarrow }\approx {\
frac {n_{e}}{2}}+{\frac {\mu _{0}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }}{2}}g(E_{\mathrm {F} })H\
right),}
with
𝑛
𝑒
{\displaystyle n_{e}} the total free-electrons density and
𝑔
(
𝐸
F
)
{\displaystyle g(E_{\mathrm {F} })} the electronic density of states (number of
states per energy per volume) at the Fermi energy
𝐸
F
{\displaystyle E_{\mathrm {F} }}.

In this approximation the magnetization is given as the magnetic moment of one

electron times the difference in densities:

𝑀
=
𝜇
B
(
𝑛
↓
−
𝑛
↑
)
=
𝜇
0
𝜇
B
2
𝑔
(
𝐸
F
)
𝐻
,
{\displaystyle M=\mu _{\mathrm {B} }(n_{\downarrow }-n_{\uparrow })=\mu _{0}\mu _{\
mathrm {B} }^{2}g(E_{\mathrm {F} })H,}
which yields a positive paramagnetic susceptibility independent of temperature:

𝜒
P
=
𝜇
0
𝜇
B
2
𝑔
(
𝐸
F
)
.
{\displaystyle \chi _{\mathrm {P} }=\mu _{0}\mu _{\mathrm {B} }^{2}g(E_{\mathrm {F}
}).}
The Pauli paramagnetic susceptibility is a macroscopic effect and has to be
contrasted with Landau diamagnetic susceptibility which is equal to minus one third
of Pauli's and also comes from delocalized electrons. The Pauli susceptibility
comes from the spin interaction with the magnetic field while the Landau
susceptibility comes from the spatial motion of the electrons and it is independent
of the spin. In doped semiconductors the ratio between Landau's and Pauli's
susceptibilities changes as the effective mass of the charge carriers
𝑚
∗{\displaystyle m^{*}} can differ from the electron mass
𝑚
𝑒
{\displaystyle m_{e}}.

The magnetic response calculated for a gas of electrons is not the full picture as
the magnetic susceptibility coming from the ions has to be included. Additionally,
these formulas may break down for confined systems that differ from the bulk, like
quantum dots, or for high fields, as demonstrated in the De Haas-Van Alphen effect.

Pauli paramagnetism is named after the physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Before Pauli's
theory, the lack of a strong Curie paramagnetism in metals was an open problem as
the leading Drude model could not account for this contribution without the use of
quantum statistics. Pauli paramagnetism and Landau diamagnetism are essentially
applications of the spin and the free electron model, the first is due to intrinsic
spin of electrons; the second is due to their orbital motion.[5][6]

Examples of paramagnets
Materials that are called "paramagnets" are most often those that exhibit, at least
over an appreciable temperature range, magnetic susceptibilities that adhere to the
Curie or Curie–Weiss laws. In principle any system that contains atoms, ions, or
molecules with unpaired spins can be called a paramagnet, but the interactions
between them need to be carefully considered.

Systems with minimal interactions

The narrowest definition would be: a system with unpaired spins that do not
interact with each other. In this narrowest sense, the only pure paramagnet is a
dilute gas of monatomic hydrogen atoms. Each atom has one non-interacting unpaired
electron.

A gas of lithium atoms already possess two paired core electrons that produce a
diamagnetic response of opposite sign. Strictly speaking Li is a mixed system
therefore, although admittedly the diamagnetic component is weak and often
neglected. In the case of heavier elements the diamagnetic contribution becomes
more important and in the case of metallic gold it dominates the properties. The
element hydrogen is virtually never called 'paramagnetic' because the monatomic gas
is stable only at extremely high temperature; H atoms combine to form molecular H2
and in so doing, the magnetic moments are lost (quenched), because of the spins
pair. Hydrogen is therefore diamagnetic and the same holds true for many other
elements. Although the electronic configuration of the individual atoms (and ions)
of most elements contain unpaired spins, they are not necessarily paramagnetic,
because at ambient temperature quenching is very much the rule rather than the
exception. The quenching tendency is weakest for f-electrons because f (especially
4f) orbitals are radially contracted and they overlap only weakly with orbitals on
adjacent atoms. Consequently, the lanthanide elements with incompletely filled 4f-
orbitals are paramagnetic or magnetically ordered.[7]

μeff values for typical d3 and d5 transition metal complexes.[8]

Material μeff/μB
[Cr(NH3)6]Br3 3.77
K3[Cr(CN)6] 3.87
K3[MoCl6] 3.79
K4[V(CN)6] 3.78
[Mn(NH3)6]Cl2 5.92
(NH4)2[Mn(SO4)2]·6H2O 5.92
NH4[Fe(SO4)2]·12H2O 5.89
Thus, condensed phase paramagnets are only possible if the interactions of the
spins that lead either to quenching or to ordering are kept at bay by structural
isolation of the magnetic centers. There are two classes of materials for which
this holds:

Molecular materials with a (isolated) paramagnetic center.

Good examples are coordination complexes of d- or f-metals or proteins with such
centers, e.g. myoglobin. In such materials the organic part of the molecule acts as
an envelope shielding the spins from their neighbors.
Small molecules can be stable in radical form, oxygen O2 is a good example. Such
systems are quite rare because they tend to be rather reactive.
Dilute systems.
Dissolving a paramagnetic species in a diamagnetic lattice at small concentrations,
e.g. Nd3+ in CaCl2 will separate the neodymium ions at large enough distances that
they do not interact. Such systems are of prime importance for what can be
considered the most sensitive method to study paramagnetic systems: EPR.
Systems with interactions

Idealized Curie–Weiss behavior; N.B. TC=θ, but TN is not θ. Paramagnetic regimes

are denoted by solid lines. Close to TN or TC the behavior usually deviates from
ideal.
As stated above, many materials that contain d- or f-elements do retain unquenched
spins. Salts of such elements often show paramagnetic behavior but at low enough
temperatures the magnetic moments may order. It is not uncommon to call such
materials 'paramagnets', when referring to their paramagnetic behavior above their
Curie or Néel-points, particularly if such temperatures are very low or have never
been properly measured. Even for iron it is not uncommon to say that iron becomes a
paramagnet above its relatively high Curie-point. In that case the Curie-point is
seen as a phase transition between a ferromagnet and a 'paramagnet'. The word
paramagnet now merely refers to the linear response of the system to an applied
field, the temperature dependence of which requires an amended version of Curie's
law, known as the Curie–Weiss law:

𝑀
=
𝐶
𝑇
−
𝜃
𝐻
{\displaystyle \mathbf {M} ={\frac {C}{T-\theta }}\mathbf {H} }
This amended law includes a term θ that describes the exchange interaction that is
present albeit overcome by thermal motion. The sign of θ depends on whether ferro-
or antiferromagnetic interactions dominate and it is seldom exactly zero, except in
the dilute, isolated cases mentioned above.

Obviously, the paramagnetic Curie–Weiss description above TN or TC is a rather

different interpretation of the word "paramagnet" as it does not imply the absence
of interactions, but rather that the magnetic structure is random in the absence of
an external field at these sufficiently high temperatures. Even if θ is close to
zero this does not mean that there are no interactions, just that the aligning
ferro- and the anti-aligning antiferromagnetic ones cancel. An additional
complication is that the interactions are often different in different directions
of the crystalline lattice (anisotropy), leading to complicated magnetic structures
once ordered.

Randomness of the structure also applies to the many metals that show a net
paramagnetic response over a broad temperature range. They do not follow a Curie
type law as function of temperature however; often they are more or less
temperature independent. This type of behavior is of an itinerant nature and better
called Pauli-paramagnetism, but it is not unusual to see, for example, the metal
aluminium called a "paramagnet", even though interactions are strong enough to give
this element very good electrical conductivity.

Superparamagnets
Some materials show induced magnetic behavior that follows a Curie type law but
with exceptionally large values for the Curie constants. These materials are known
as superparamagnets. They are characterized by a strong ferromagnetic or
ferrimagnetic type of coupling into domains of a limited size that behave
independently from one another. The bulk properties of such a system resembles that
of a paramagnet, but on a microscopic level they are ordered. The materials do show
an ordering temperature above which the behavior reverts to ordinary paramagnetism
(with interaction). Ferrofluids are a good example, but the phenomenon can also
occur inside solids, e.g., when dilute paramagnetic centers are introduced in a
strong itinerant medium of ferromagnetic coupling such as when Fe is substituted in
TlCu2Se2 or the alloy AuFe. Such systems contain ferromagnetically coupled clusters
that freeze out at lower temperatures. They are also called mictomagnets.