Low-temperature electron dephasing in mesoscopic conductors
In small metal wires and semiconductor devices, electrons keep a definite quantum phase for a time that theory says should grow without limit as temperature falls. In many samples this phase-coherence time stops growing below roughly 0.1 to 1 K, and the cause is disputed.
Why it matters
The phase-coherence time sets the size of every quantum interference effect in conductors, and its suspected limiting sources (magnetic impurities, tunneling defects, stray radiation) are the same ones that limit solid-state qubits.
Review
J. J. Lin and J. P. Bird, Recent experimental studies of electron dephasing in metal and semiconductor mesoscopic structures, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/14/18/201 reference checked
Timestamp record
- Signed record
- c692bb8b788d…
- Public log
- Entry 128, in checkpoint 2,123
- In the log by
- Block 969,698, 2026-10-03
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