IMPURITY SPIN DYNAMICS AND QUANTUM COHERENCE IN MESOSCOPIC RINGS

We investigate the effects of impurity spin dynamics on quantum cohere nce in mesoscopic metallic rings. Spin relaxation induces temporal cur rent fluctuations which are closely related to persistent currents in such systems. The persistent current is suppressed in the presence of magnetic impurities. We discuss spin-polarisation effects, spin-glass ordering, and the Kondo effect which are shown to restore the current even in the presence of magnetic scattering.