Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford / 2013 / 4 / a

In the SI linear-response convention $\mathbf{M}={\chi }_H\mathbf{H}$, a diamagnetic contribution has negative susceptibility: the induced moment opposes the applied field. Orbital motion supplies a familiar microscopic mechanism, and closed-shell atoms can be diamagnetic even without permanent moments. Paramagnetism has positive susceptibility, with induced magnetization along the field; thermal alignment of permanent localized moments is one mechanism, while conduction-electron spin response is another.

Neither sign alone is a definition of ferromagnetic ordering. An ordinary paramagnetic phase has no spontaneous zero-field magnetization. A diamagnetic background can coexist with a larger paramagnetic contribution in the same specimen. Curie's inverse-temperature law describes an appropriate localized-moment model, not every possible paramagnet.