RADIATION-DAMAGE IN LOW DIMENSIONAL CONDUCTORS

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS IN THE FIELD OF SYNTHETIC METALS AND SUPERCONDUCTORS IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE GENUINE INTRINSIC LOW DIMENSIONAL PROPERTIES AND EXTRINSIC PROPERTIES DUE TO STRUCTURAL OR MORPHOLOGICAL DISORDER. MANY EXPERIMENTS, SPECIALLY THE D. C. RESISTIVITY MEASUREMENTS, CAN BE INTERPRETED EITHER IN TERMS OF MORE OR LESS INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OR IN TERMS OF INHOMOGENEOUS MODELS BASED ON DISORDERED STRUCTURES. IF IT IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE TO INCREASE SUBSTANTIALLY THE CRYSTAL PERFECTION IT ISALWAYS POSSIBLE TO INCREASE THE DISORDER IN A CONTROLLED WAY BY IRRADIATION. THIS PAPER CONTAINS A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE MAIN CONSEQUENCES OF IRRADIATION AND SPECIALLY OF THE EFFECTS OF DEFECTS ON THE TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF SOME LOW DIMENSIONAL CONDUCTORS.