Preface

Summary

The purpose of this book is to explain in physical terms the many striking electrical properties of disordered metals or alloys, in particular metallic glasses. The main theme is that one central idea can explain many of the otherwise puzzling behaviour of these metals, particularly at low temperatures and in a magnetic field. That idea is that electrons in such metals do not travel ballistically between comparatively rare scattering events but diffuse through the metal. These new effects are not large but they are so universal in high-resistivity metals, so diverse and qualitatively so different from anything to be expected in metals where the electrons have a long mean free path, that they cry out for an explanation.

The book is not a critical research review; the motivation is mainly to explain. In interpreting theory there are always the dangers of overinterpretation, misinterpretation and failure to interpret and I do not expect to have escaped these completely. Nonetheless, our new understanding of disordered metals and alloys constitutes a substantial addition to conventional Boltzmann theory and deserves to be more widely known and appreciated.

The book is aimed at those who know little of the subject such as students starting work in this field or those outside the field who wish to know of developments in it. There is no attempt at rigorous derivations; the aim is to present the physics as clearly as possible so that readers can think about the subject for themselves and be able to apply their thinking in new contexts.