Signature of the electron-electron interaction in the magnetic-field dependence of nonlinear I-V characteristics in mesoscopic systems.

ABSTRACT

We show that the nonlinear I-V characteristics of mesoscopic samples with metallic conductivity should contain parts which are linear in the magnetic-field and quadratic in the electric field. These contributions to the current are entirely due to the electron-electron interaction and consequently they are proportional to the electron-electron interaction constant. We also note that both the amplitude and the sign of the nonlinear part of the current exhibit random oscillations as a function of temperature.