Electrical resistivity of simple metal amorphous alloys at moderately low temperatures

Abstract An approach is developed that allows to explain the unusual dependence of the electrical resistivity ρ(T) of amorphous alloys on temperature T. Interactions between the free electrons and the longitudinal acoustic excitations in the small-wavelength region (“the roton region”) are shown to cause such a behaviour of ρ(T) at moderately low temperatures. The features of the electron–phonon interactions in an amorphous alloy as compared to the crystal state case are discussed. The theory is illustrated by numerical calculations of the electrical resistivity ρ(T) for Mg–Zn and Cu–Sn amorphous alloys at the different alloy concentrations in the 0 K temperature range. Qualitative agreemen…