Intrinsic Decoherence in Mesoscopic Systems

Abstract

We point out that even at the absolute zero of temperature environmental decoherence limits the destructive interference between time-reversed paths for an electron in a disordered metal, and thus causes the leading (`weak localization') quantum correction to the conductivity to saturate at T=0. Our calculation, which is intended to be illustrative rather than complete, uses a model in which an electron interacts with the fluctuations of the mean voltage in the sample. The average of the fluctuations produces the steady damping well known in Brownian motion, introduces a direction of time, ensures that arbitrarily long time-reversed electron paths lose phase coherence, and is consistent with the experimental observation of a finite low temperature phase-breaking lifetime.