Eur. Phys. J. B 15, 277-281 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510051126

Non-linear conductivity and quantum interference in disordered metals

¹ INFM e Dipartimento di Fisica "E. Amaldi", Università di Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
² INFM e Dipartimento di Fisica, Università "La Sapienza", 00185 Roma, Italy
³ Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg, 86135 Augsburg, Germany

Received: 9 February 2000
Published online: 15 May 2000

Abstract

We report on the non-linear electric field effect in the conductivity of disordered conductors. We find that the electron-electron interaction in the particle-hole triplet channel strongly affects the non-linear conductivity. The non-linear effect introduces a field dependent temperature scale T_E and provides a microscopic mechanism for electric field scaling at the metal-insulator transition. We also study the magnetic field dependence of the non-linear conductivity and suggest possible ways to experimentally verify our predictions. These effects offer a new probe to test the role of quantum interference at the metal-insulator transition in disordered conductors.