Magnetic circular X-ray dichroism and X-ray absorption near-edge struc
tures were measured at the rare-earth (RE) L(3,2) edges in amorphous F
e-RE alloys (RE = Pr, Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy). The Gd 5d spin and orbital m
oments in the amorphous 80 at% Fe-Gd alloy are evaluated to be about 0
.39 mu(B) and -0.02 mu(B) per atom at room temperature using the sum r
ules.