The anisotropy of conduction electron scattering in the noble metals

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Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to bring together experimental results which have yielded some quantitative information with respect to the anisotropy of conduction electron scattering in the noble metals. It is found that from the ordinary transport properties, and in particular from analyses of the Hall effect and deviations from Mattheissen's rule, the assembled conclusions do not present a coherent picture, at least with regard to electron-impurity scattering. The results for scattering by phonons are more consistent. The advent recently of rather precise (∼ 0·1%) specifications of the noble metal Fermi surfaces together with the knowledge of certain derivative properties over them makes possible more direct measurements of electron scattering. The application of experimental techniques which are more commonly associated with the field of ‘Fermiology’, and in particular the de Haas-van Alphen effect, to study conduction electron scattering more directly is an important theme of the present paper. Such direct experiments, which can yield local values of the electronic lifetime, τ (k), make possible a comparison between theory and experiment prior to the stage where the Boltzmann equation or its equivalent needs to be solved.