{
  "id": "cond-mat/0302235",
  "version": "v2",
  "published": "2003-02-12T20:10:30.000Z",
  "updated": "2003-06-03T17:50:52.000Z",
  "title": "Dephasing of Electrons in Mesoscopic Metal Wires",
  "authors": [
    "F. Pierre",
    "A. B. Gougam",
    "A. Anthore",
    "H. Pothier",
    "D. Esteve",
    "Norman O. Birge"
  ],
  "comment": "16 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Physical Review B",
  "journal": "Phys. Rev. B 68, 085413 (2003)",
  "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevB.68.085413",
  "categories": [
    "cond-mat.mes-hall"
  ],
  "abstract": "We have extracted the phase coherence time $\\tau_{\\phi}$ of electronic quasiparticles from the low field magnetoresistance of weakly disordered wires made of silver, copper and gold. In samples fabricated using our purest silver and gold sources, $\\tau_{\\phi}$ increases as $T^{-2/3}$ when the temperature $T$ is reduced, as predicted by the theory of electron-electron interactions in diffusive wires. In contrast, samples made of a silver source material of lesser purity or of copper exhibit an apparent saturation of $\\tau_{\\phi}$ starting between 0.1 and 1 K down to our base temperature of 40 mK. By implanting manganese impurities in silver wires, we show that even a minute concentration of magnetic impurities having a small Kondo temperature can lead to a quasi saturation of $\\tau_{\\phi}$ over a broad temperature range, while the resistance increase expected from the Kondo effect remains hidden by a large background. We also measured the conductance of Aharonov-Bohm rings fabricated using a very pure copper source and found that the amplitude of the $h/e$ conductance oscillations increases strongly with magnetic field. This set of experiments suggests that the frequently observed ``saturation'' of $\\tau_{\\phi}$ in weakly disordered metallic thin films can be attributed to spin-flip scattering from extremely dilute magnetic impurities, at a level undetectable by other means.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v2",
      "updated": "2003-06-03T17:50:52.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "mesoscopic metal wires",
      "temperature",
      "kondo effect remains hidden",
      "low field magnetoresistance",
      "dilute magnetic impurities"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "APS",
      "journal": "Phys. Rev. B"
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 16,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}