Comparison of energy and phase relaxation in metallic wires

We have determined the phase coherence time, , frommagnetoresistance measurements of long, narrow wires ofAu, Ag, and Cu, over the temperature range40 mK-6 K. In the Cu and Au wires, saturates at low temperature. In the Ag wire, continues to increase down to the lowesttemperatures measured; moreover, its temperature dependencebelow about 1 K is consistent with theoreticalpredictions of Altshuler, Aronov and Khmelnitskii published in1982. These results cast doubt on recent assertions thatsaturation of at low temperature is a universalphenomenon in metal wires. We compare these results with thoseof recent experiments on energy relaxation in similar metallicwires. The results of the two experiments are stronglycorrelated, suggesting that a single (unknown) mechanism isthe cause of the enhanced phase and energy relaxation observedin some samples.