High field magnetization and specific heat of ErNi/sub 5/

High field magnetization studies of single crystalline ErNi/sub 5/ in fields up to 38 T at 1.5 K along the main crystallographic directions have been performed. Along the easy direction, the hexagonal axis, the spontaneous magnetization, M/sub s/, amounts to 8.62 /spl mu//sub B//f.u. The high-field susceptibility is very small and equal to 41/spl times/10/sup -4/ /spl mu//sub B//Tf.u. There exists a distinct difference between the curves along the a- and b-axis. The a-axis curve monotonously increases with field up to 38 T. The b-axis curve coincides with the a-axis curve up to 12 T but starts to deviate from it above this field, resulting in a value for the magnetization at 38 T which is almost the full moment value. The specific heat of a newly-grown single-crystalline sample has been measured in zero field and in applied fields along the c-axis (B=0.3, 1, 2, 5 T). The zero-field measurements coincide with previously reported results. The specific heat shows a rapid decrease of the ferrimagnetic order with applied field. Already in 1 T, the sharp lambda-type of peak at the magnetic transition is decreased by two third and becomes a broad bump that coincides with the zero-tesla measurement above 30 K. Higher fields further suppress the transition.