Electric Field Breakdown of Charge-Density-Wave—Induced Anomalies in NbSe3

Authors: P. Monçeau, N. P. Ong, A. M. Portis, A. Meerschaut, J. Rouxel - Physical Review Letters 1976 cited by 507

We report the suppression by electric fields of longitudinal resistivity anomalies at 145 and 59 K in the compound Nb${\mathrm{Se}}_{3}$. Sample resistance was determined by conventional four-probe dc measurement as well as with short current pulses. We attribute the observed suppression to Zener breakdown across extremely small gaps introduced by the presence of charge density waves.