THERMAL ORIGIN OF NONOHMIC MAGNETORESISTANCE EFFECTS IN SEMIMETALS

Abstract
The magnetoresistance in antimony, bismuth, and arsenic samples immersed in liquid helium has been investigated. With a helium bath at 4.2° K, the nonohmic resistance, observed when the sample power dissipation exceeded 0.5 watt/cm2, was correlated with a sample temperature that was above the bath temperature. The temperature rise is explained on the basis of film-boiling at the solid-liquid interface. The elimination of this thermal effect is necessary for the observation of the nonlinear effect observed by Esaki in bismuth.

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