CROSSOVER BETWEEN DISSIPATIVE AND NONDISSIPATIVE ELECTRON-TRANSPORT IN METAL WIRES

Electron transport in one-dimensional metal wires of different length is shown to change from dissipative to nondissipative when the electron-phonon relaxation length becomes equal to the wire length. The crossover provides the first direct measurement of the energy relaxation length in metal wires which is found to have an inverse cube temperature dependence. In the dissipationless regime the electron energy is shown to be linearly related to the voltage applied across the wire.