Quantum nonlinear galvanomagnetic effects in metal plates upon multichannel specular reflection of electrons
Abstract
Quantum-interference galvoanomagnetic effects in a metal plate, which appear upon a multichannel specular reflection (MSR) of electrons from its boundary, are studied. In this limiting quantum-mechanical case, it is shown that MSR electron transitions between closed and open orbits in a magnetic field parallel to the plate boundaries lead to considerable deviations from Ohm’s law for very small electric field strengths (in particular, it is manifested in a declining segment in the IV-characteristic for the plate). A special formalism is proposed for studying quantum-nonlinear conditions, in which semiclassical phases of the electron wave function play the role of effective independent variables. Giant oscillations of conductivity in a magnetic field, which are a quantum-mechanical analog of Pippard’s classical “magnetomorphous” oscillations, are also investigated.