The electrical resistivity of Ag and Ag-based alloys below 9K

Detailed electrical resistivity measurements have been made on nominally pure Ag and on Ag alloys with the aim of testing current understanding of low-temperature transport in metals. The pure samples had residual resistivities between 0.12 and 0.8 n Omega cm, and the alloys, containing up to 2 at.% of Au, Pd or Pt, residual resistivities up to 1 mu Omega cm. Measurements spanned the temperature range 1.2-9K, and were made with a resolution of order 1 in 10 6 . For all except the highest purity (HP) samples, the temperature-dependent part of the resistivity, rho (T)- rho (0), can be described by a simple T 4 power law over a substantial temperature range, which extends to higher temperatures at the solute concentration increases. Furthermore, the magnitude of rho (T)- rho (0) also increases, with a factor of five to ten between the purest and most concentrated samples. Au and Pt appear to behave similarly as solutes, Pd differently.