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Published September 2008 | public
Journal Article

Classical and quantum routes to linear magnetoresistance

Abstract

The hallmark of materials science is the ability to tailor the microstructure of a given material to provide a desired response. Carbon mixed with iron provides the steel of buildings and bridges; impurities sprinkled in silicon single crystals form the raw materials of the electronics revolution; pinning centres in superconductors let them become powerful magnets. Here, we show that either adding a few parts per million of the proper chemical impurities to indium antimonide, a well-known semiconductor, or redesigning the material's structure on the micrometre scale, can transform its response to an applied magnetic field. The former approach is purely quantum mechanical; the latter a classical outgrowth of disorder, turned to advantage. In both cases, the magnetoresistive response-at the heart of magnetic sensor technology-can be converted to a simple, large and linear function of field that does not saturate. Harnessing the effects of disorder has the further advantage of extending the useful applications range of such a magnetic sensor to very high temperatures by circumventing the usual limitations imposed by phonon scattering.

Additional Information

© 2008 Macmillan Publishers Limited. Received 11 March 2008; accepted 21 July 2008; published 24 August 2008. The authors thank M. M. Parish for valuable discussions on the Parish–Littlewood model. The work at the University of Chicago was supported by DOE Basic Energy Sciences. Author contributions: J.H. and T.F.R. contributed equally to all parts of the project.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
March 5, 2024