NONSYMMETRIC CONDUCTION INDUCED BY THE SHAPE OF ELECTRON BILLIARDS

We find that the longitudinal resistance of triangular electron billia rds, which have no symmetry axis perpendicular to the direction of the current, is in the nonlinear regime not symmetric on current reversal . Our experiments indicate that the effect is inherent in the nonsymme tric shape of the cavities and is related to electron wave interferenc e. Quantum mechanical modelling of nonlinear electron transport in ope n triangular cavities confirms that nonsymmetric effects such as those observed can be induced by the cavity shape alone.