The electrical resistivity of potassium at low temperatures

Abstract

Measurements of the electrical resistivity as a function of temperature are described for the temperature interval from 1.1 to 4.2K for potassium samples with resistance ratios varying between 390 and 8200. The measurements show the existence of phonon drag in the resistivity and also a weakly temperature-dependent term Tm (with m close to 2), with a sample-dependent magnitude. The temperature-dependent resistivity rho (T) in this temperature interval can be represented by rho (T)=AT2+BT exp (-20 K/T). The possibility of ascribing the AT2 term to electron-electron scattering is discussed. The possible influence of the dislocation density on the linear magnetoresistance and on the deviations from Matthiessen's rule is discussed briefly.