Electrical Conductivity of Metals and Alloys at Low Temperatures

Abstract

“It is perhaps unfortunate that so much attention has been paid to the resistance of metals, since it is probably one of the least characteristic properties of the substance, and depends on the electronic distribution and the elastic constants in a very complicated way.” So said Wilson ^[1] in the first edition of his classic book “The Theory of Metals”. From some points of view this outlook might still be maintained, but we should not forget that one of the most striking and valuable properties of a metal is its ready conduction of electricity. It is true that a complete fundamental understanding of electrical resistance in metals is still lacking today despite unremitting experimental investigation for at least a century; however, the wealth of useful information on metals gained by studies of electrical conductivity appears unequalled by any other comparable measurement. It is of course the rather subtle dependence of the electron scattering on the characteristic parameters of a metal that renders a full theoretical interpretation so difficult; nonetheless, it appears a fortunate fact that so sensitive and informative a parameter can be so readily measured.