Observation of long phase-coherence length in epitaxial La-doped CdO thin films

Abstract

The search for long electron phase coherence length, which is the length that an electron can keep its quantum wave-like properties, has attracted considerable interest in the last several decades. Here, we report the long phase coherence length of ~ 3.7 micro meters in La-doped CdO thin films at 2 K. Systematical investigations of the La doping and the temperature dependences of the electron mobility and the electron phase coherence length reveal contrasting scattering mechanisms for these two physical properties. Furthermore, these results show that the oxygen vacancies could be the dominant scatters in CdO thin films that break the electron phase coherence, which would shed light on further investigation of phase coherence properties in oxide materials.