The Magnetoresistance of Bismuth Crystals at Low Temperatures

Abstract

Using bismuth monocrystals at 4.2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, the magnetoresistive behavior of the metal has been investigated in fields ranging to 100 000 gauss. The crystals were mounted transverse to the field with the principal crystalline axis parallel to the specimen axis. It is observed that the magnetoresistance oscillates at twice the frequency of the susceptibility oscillations of the de Haas-van Alphen effect. The resistance oscillation is separated into two frequency components, one twice the other, and each component is related to a group of electrons having a certain effective mass. The group which is thought to be primarily responsible for the de Haas-van Alphen effect produces magnetoresistance oscillations of small amplitude and of the same frequency. The other group yields larger amplitude resistance oscillations of twice this frequency. Resistance minima have been found at fields of 23.2, 12.5, 8.8 and 6.5 kilogauss when the field is perpendicular to a binary axis of the crystal. The results are discussed in terms of the theory of Davydov and Pomeranchuk, and yield a degeneracy temperature of about 210\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K.