de Haas-van Alphen Effect in a Zinc Alloy Exhibiting a Resistance Minimum

Abstract

The de Haas-van Alphen effect has been measured using a torque method at magnetic fields up to 8 kOe and temperatures between 4.2 and 1.6°K for both pure zinc and a zinc manganese alloy exhibiting a resistance minimum. Experimentally, it is shown that there is no change in the period of the oscillations although the field and temperature dependence of the amplitude of the oscillations is found to be anomalous. A consideration of the influence of the conduction electron relaxation time on the de Haas-van Alphen effect shows that the observed behavior may be explained if the relaxation time is allowed to approach zero in a small energy interval, $\Delta$, about the Fermi energy. Using the phenomenological theory of the resistance minimum, due to Korringa and Gerritsen, and the value of $\Delta$ obtained from the de Haas-van Alphen effect experiments the resistance as a function of temperature was calculated and found to agree within experimental error with the measured values.