Theory of longitudinal and transverse nonlinear dc conductivity

Abstract

Kohn's theory of Drude conductivity, established in a many-body framework, addresses even systems with disorder and correlation, besides the ordinary band metals (i.e., crystalline systems of independent electrons). Kohn's theory is here extended to nonlinear dc conductivities of arbitrary order, longitudinal and transverse. The results are then reformulated in a band-structure framework, and their relationships to the semiclassical theory of nonlinear electron transport are elucidated.