Non-local calculations of the dispersion of electromagnetic waves in Bi. Comparison with experimental Alfven wave data

Abstract

A detailed comparison is made between the experimental results on Alfven waves propagating through Bi samples and the numerical results obtained by a recently developed non-local formalism. At both of the frequencies 45 and 300 GHz, samples with trigonal and binary surfaces were used. It is shown that a reasonably accurate value for the relaxation time may be derived from the experimental data. In contrast to the local calculations, the non-local calculations lead to good overall agreement with the experimentally observed dispersion and damping of the Alfven waves, the deviations being explicable in terms of the de Haas-van Alphen oscillations of the Alfven wave velocity.