Studies of conduction electron scattering in copper using the de Haas-van Alphen effect

Comprehensive measurements of the orbitally averaged scattering rate characterized by the Dingle temperature have been carried out for a number of orbits in dilute alloys of copper containing nickel, germanium or gold as solute. By combining the data for orbits traversing different regions of the Fermi surface and using a Fourier series inversion scheme, characteristic maps depicting the anisotropy of the local electron-impurity scattering rate 1/ tau *(k) over the Fermi surface have been deduced for each type of impurity scattering centre. The maps show a pronounced anisotropy which is different for each of the three solutes. The results may be understood in terms of the partial wave scattering model of Coleridge, and enable the differences Delta eta 1 between the phase shifts characterizing the host and impurity potentials to be determined.