First published in 1989, this book contained the first systematic
account of magnetoresistance in metals, the study of which has provided
solid-state physicists with much valuable information about electron
motion in metals. The electrical resistance of a metal is usually
changed when a magnetic field is applied to it; at low temperatures the
change may be very large indeed and when magnetic breakdown is involved,
very complex. Every metal behaves differently, and the effect is highly
dependent on the direction of the field relative to the crystal axes.
Quite apart from its usefulness for determining the Ferni surfaces of
individual metals, the phenomenon presents many interesting problems in
its own right; it is the phenomenon, rather than its applications, that
Professor Pippard concentrates on in this book. The level of treatment
is aimed at readers with a basic knowledge of undergraduate solid-state
physics, and makes no great demand on mathematical ability. The text is
copiously illustrated with real experimental results.