 Shubnikov-de Haas effect

The Shubnikov-de Haas effect is an oscillatory variation of electrical resistance with magnetic field caused by Landau levels moving through the Fermi energy. As the density of accessible states near that energy changes, the conductivity and scattering response oscillate.

A measurement sweeps field at low temperature while recording a longitudinal voltage for a controlled current. Oscillations are commonly approximately periodic in inverse field for a fixed closed Fermi-surface orbit. Their period probes the orbit area, while temperature-dependent amplitude constrains a cyclotron effective mass. Disorder and thermal broadening can wash out the oscillations even when a Fermi surface exists. The effect is a transport measurement, distinct from the oscillating magnetization measured in the thermodynamic quantum-oscillation counterpart.