Electron drag of dislocations in thin metal plates

Abstract The electron force dragging dislocations in a thin metal plate of thickness d has been calculated and the dependence of the drag force F on the parameter d l ( l is the electron free path length) determined for the cases d l ⪢ 1 and d l ⪡ 1 . With d ⪡ l , the drag force depends upon the nature of electron scattering on the plate surface. The drag force dependence on the sample size has also been considered for a d.c. magnetic field H parallel to the plate faces. In the case of diffuse scattering the second derivative of F ( H ) reveals a square root singularity at the value of the magnetic field where the electron orbit diameter is equal to the plate thickness.