Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-advanced-quantum-condensed-matter-physics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/2/b/solution
Past exam of the advanced Quantum Condensed Matter Physics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 1 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Put , and . In the CIP thickness-averaged two-current model, assume spin is conserved and electron trajectories sample the layers, so each channel's effective resistivity is the thickness average: , . This uses averaged relaxation rates with comparable transport weights, neglecting additional interface resistance. Here is the per-spin-channel resistivity, twice the measured nonmagnetic bulk resistivity. The stated long mean free path motivates sampling more than one layer.
A four-layer period has thickness . For an in-plane square, , hence the two parallel spin conductances add:The square's side cancels. The layers are not being treated as four macroscopic resistors in series along the in-plane current; the averaging is over the traversing carriers' scattering histories.
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