Electronic conduction in highly anisotropic systems

Abstract

We have calculated the ratio of conductivities along the chains and perpendicular to the chains in highly anisotropic quasi-one-dimensional systems. The electronic motion along the transverse direction is viewed as a coherent inter-chain tunnelling between neighbouring chains blocked by repeated intra-chain incoherent scatterings. Our results predict intrinsically the same temperature dependence for both conductivities. It also predicts a linear dependence of the anisotropy ratio on the carrier concentration, which is absent in the earlier treatments of the same problem.