Suppression of superconductivity by non-magnetic disorder in the organic superconductor (TMTSF)2(ClO4)(1-x)(ReO4)x

We present a study of the superconducting properties (Tc and Hc2) in the solid solution (TMTSF)2(ClO4)(1-x)(ReO4)x with a ReO-4 nominal concentration up to x = 6%. The dramatic suppression of Tc when the residual resistivity is increased upon alloying with no modification of the Fermi surface is the signature of non-conventional superconductivity . This behaviour strongly supports p or d wave pairing in quasi one dimensional organic superconductors. The determination of the electron lifetime in the normal state at low temperature confirms that a single particle Drude model is unable to explain the temperature dependence of the conductivity and that a very narrow zero frequency mode must be taken into account for the interpretation of the transport properties.Comment: Received 26 January 2004 / Received in final form 17 June 2004 / Published online 3 August 200

Influence of Quantum Hall Effect on Linear and Nonlinear Conductivity in the FISDW States of the Organic Conductor (TMTSF)_2PF_6

We report a detailed characterization of quantum Hall effect (QHE) influence on the linear and non-linear resistivity tensor in FISDW phases of the organic conductor (TMTSF)2PF6. We show that the behavior at low electric fields, observed for nominally pure single crystals with different values of the resistivity ratio, is fully consistent with a theoretical model, which takes QHE nature of FISDW and residual quasi-particle density associated with different crystal imperfection levels into account. The non-linearity in longitudinal and diagonal resistivity tensor components observed at large electric fields reconciles preceding contradictory results. Our theoretical model offers a qualitatively good explanation of the observed features if a sliding of the density wave with the concomitant destruction of QHE, switched on above a finite electric field, is taken into account.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to EPJ

Nodal Superconducting Order Parameter and Thermodynamic Phase Diagram of (TMTSF)2ClO4

The organic materials (TMTSF)2X are unique unconventional superconductors with archetypal quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) electronic structures. Here, based on our comprehensive field-angle-resolved calorimetry of (TMTSF)2ClO4, we succeeded in mapping the nodal gap structure for the first time in Q1D systems, by discriminating between the Fermi wavevectors and Fermi velocities. In addition, the thermodynamic phase diagrams of (TMTSF)2ClO4 for all principal field directions are obtained. These findings, providing strong evidence of nodal spin-singlet superconductivity, serves as solid bases for further elucidation of anomalous superconducting phenomena in (TMTSF)2X.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, including Supplemental Information added at the end of the manuscrip

Mechanism of confinement in low-dimensional organic conductors

Confinement-deconfinement transition in quarter-filled two-coupled chains comprising dimerization, repulsive interactions and interchain hopping has been demonstrated by applying the renormalization group method to the bosonized Hamiltonian. The confinement given by the irrelevant interchain hopping occurs with increasing umklapp scattering which is induced by the dimerization leading to effectively half-filling. It is shown that the transition originates in a competition between a charge gap and the renormalized interchain hopping.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, Proc. CREST Int. Workshop, Nagoya 2000, submitted to J. Phys. Chem. Solid

Coexistence of Superconductivity and Spin Density Wave orderings in the organic superconductor (TMTSF)_2PF_6

The phase diagram of the organic superconductor (TMTSF)_2PF_6 has been revisited using transport measurements with an improved control of the applied pressure. We have found a 0.8 kbar wide pressure domain below the critical point (9.43 kbar, 1.2 K) for the stabilisation of the superconducting ground state featuring a coexistence regime between spin density wave (SDW) and superconductivity (SC). The inhomogeneous character of the said pressure domain is supported by the analysis of the resistivity between T_SDW and T_SC and the superconducting critical current. The onset temperature T_SC is practically constant (1.20+-0.01 K) in this region where only the SC/SDW domain proportion below T_SC is increasing under pressure. An homogeneous superconducting state is recovered above the critical pressure with T_SC falling at increasing pressure. We propose a model comparing the free energy of a phase exhibiting a segregation between SDW and SC domains and the free energy of homogeneous phases which explains fairly well our experimental findings.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, revised v: fig.9 added, section 4.2 rewritten, accepted v: sections 4&5 improve

The metallic transport of (TMTSF)_2X organic conductors close to the superconducting phase

Comparing resistivity data of quasi-one dimensional superconductors (TMTSF)_2PF_6 and (TMTSF)_2ClO_4 along the least conducting c*-axis and along the high conductivity a -axis as a function of temperature and pressure, a low temperature regime is observed in which a unique scattering time governs transport along both directions of these anisotropic conductors. However, the pressure dependence of the anisotropy implies a large pressure dependence of the interlayer coupling. This is in agreement with the results of first-principles DFT calculations implying methyl group hyperconjugation in the TMTSF molecule. In this low temperature regime, both materials exhibit for rc a temperature dependence aT + bT^2. Taking into account the strong pressure dependence of the anisotropy, the T-linear rc is found to correlate with the suppression of the superconducting Tc, in close analogy with ra data. This work is revealing the domain of existence of the 3D coherent regime in the generic (TMTSF)_2X phase diagram and provides further support for the correlation between T-linear resistivity and superconductivity in non-conventional superconductors

Anomalous In-Plane Anisotropy of the Onset of Superconductivity in (TMTSF)2ClO4

We report the magnetic field-amplitude and field-angle dependence of the superconducting onset temperature Tc_onset of the organic superconductor (TMTSF)2ClO4 in magnetic fields H accurately aligned to the conductive ab' plane. We revealed that the rapid increase of the onset fields at low temperatures occurs both for H // b' and H // a, irrespective of the carrier confinement. Moreover, in the vicinity of the Pauli limiting field, we report a shift of a principal axis of the in-plane field-angle dependence of Tc_onset away from the b' axis. This feature may be related to an occurrence of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure