diff --git a/jaxpm/distributed.py b/jaxpm/distributed.py
index 86cd816..2d361f6 100644
--- a/jaxpm/distributed.py
+++ b/jaxpm/distributed.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def uniform_particles(mesh_shape, sharding=None):
                          axis=-1)
 
 
-def normal_field(seed , shape, sharding=None, dtype='float32'):
+def normal_field(seed , shape, sharding=None, dtype=float):
     """Generate a Gaussian random field with the given power spectrum."""
     gpu_mesh = sharding.mesh if sharding is not None else None
     if gpu_mesh is not None and not (gpu_mesh.empty):