Direct observation of orbital magnetism in cubic solids.

We present x-ray magnetic circular dichroism determinations of the orbital/spin magnetic moment ratios of dilute 3d-series impurities in Au (and Cu) host matrices. This is the first direct measurement of considerable orbital moments in cubic symmetry for a localized impurity in a bulk metal host. It is shown that the unquenching of orbital magnetism depends on a delicate balance of hybridization effects between the local impurity with the host and the filling of the 3d states of the impurity.