Ballistic and diffuse modes of electron transport in nanocontacts of magnetics

The transition from the ballistic mode of electron transport to the diffuse one has been experimentally observed in Ni nanocontacts of various sizes where the magnetic phase transition has been investigated. It is shown that the voltage U_C required for the Joule heating of the near-contact region to the critical temperature is independent of the contact size only in the diffuse mode. It is demonstrated that a decrease in the electron transport mean free path due to the heating of the near-contact region should be taken into account when determining the electron transport mode in nanocontacts.