Influence of the Spin of the Electron on the Quantum Magnetoacoustic Effect in Metals

Abstract

A discussion is given of the influence of the orientation of the electron spins on the quantum oscillations of the ultrasonic attenuation in metals. This effect occurs for the situation in which a longitudinal acoustic wave propagates along the direction of an applied magnetic field in a sufficiently pure crystal and at low temperatures. It is shown that the attenuation consists of two series of spikes which occur periodically as a function of the reciprocal of the intensity of the magnetic field. The period of either series is related to an extremal cross-sectional area of the Fermi surface of the material and the shift between the two series is proportional to the cyclotron effective mass of the electrons.