Mohanty, P.Jariwala, E.M.Q.Webb, R.A.2018-04-172018-04-171997-04-28Mohanty, P., Jariwala, E.M.Q., and Webb, R.A. (1997). Intrinsic Decoherence in Mesoscopic Systems. Physical Review Letters, 78(17), 3366-3369. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.33660031-9007https://hdl.handle.net/2144/28337We present measurements of the phase coherence time τ φ in six quasi-1D Au wires and clearly show that τ φ is temperature independent at low temperatures. We suggest that zero-point fluctuations of the phase coherent electrons are responsible for the observed saturation of τ φ . We introduce a new functional form for the temperature dependence and present the results of a calculation for the saturation value of τ φ. This explains the observed temperature dependence of our samples as well as many 1D and 2D systems reported to date.p. 3366 - 3369© 1997 The American Physical Society.Science & technologyPhysical sciencesPhysicsElectron scatteringWeak localizationMesoscale and nanoscale physicsGeneral physicsArticle10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.3366