Past exam of the quantum condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / 2 / b / Solution

The Drude model treats mobile electric charge carriers as independent particles with density $n$, signed electric charge $q$, isotropic mass $m$, and momentum relaxation time $\tau$. In uniform steady fields,At zero magnetic field the drift velocity is $q\tau \mathbf{E}/m$, giving electrical conductivity and electrical resistivityThe electrical conductivity is positive for either carrier sign. Scattering dissipates directed drift energy into the environment; a finite steady electric current is compatible with a short-lived drift momentum. The independent-carrier relaxation-time approximation omits detailed band anisotropy, quantum interference and microscopic collision correlations.

For electric current along $x$ and magnetic field $B\hat{\mathbf{z}}$, the magnetic force deflects carriers toward one side of the sample. electric charge accumulates until a transverse Hall field cancels that force in an open transverse circuit. With $J_y=0$, $E_y=v_{x}B$, soElectrons have negative $R_H$ in this convention, whereas positive carriers have positive $R_H$. For a strip of thickness $d$ along $z$, the magnitude of the Hall electric potential difference across its width is $|V_H|=|IB/(nqd)|$. Thus Hall measurements determine carrier sign and, within this one-carrier model, density, while combining $R_H$ with ${\sigma }_0$ determines charge carrier mobility $\mu =|q|\tau /m={\sigma }_0|R_H|$.

Keeping both in-plane electric current components, the resistivity tensor isThis fixes the off-diagonal sign convention and shows that inversion is not componentwise reciprocation. Under the Hall boundary condition $J_y=0$, the ideal one-carrier isotropic model gives $E_x/J_x={\rho }_0$, independent of magnetic field: there is no ordinary longitudinal magnetoresistance in this minimal model. Multiple carrier types or anisotropic bands can change both this conclusion and the simple $R_H=1/(nq)$ inference. Their electrical conductivity must be added before inverting to obtain the total electrical resistivity.