Superconductivity in an organic insulator at very high magnetic fields

We investigate by electrical transport the field-induced superconducting state (FISC) in the organic conductor $\lambda$-(BETS)$_2$FeCl$_4$. Below 4 K, antiferromagnetic-insulator, metallic, and eventually superconducting (FISC) ground states are observed with increasing in-plane magnetic field. The FISC state survives between 18 and 41 T, and can be interpreted in terms of the Jaccarino-Peter effect, where the external magnetic field {\em compensates} the exchange field of aligned Fe$^{3+}$ ions. We further argue that the Fe$^{3+}$ moments are essential to stabilize the resulting singlet, two-dimensional superconducting stateComment: 9 pages 3 figure

Enhancement of the upper critical field and a field-induced superconductivity in antiferromagnetic conductors

We propose a mechanism by which the paramagnetic pair-breaking effect is largely reduced in superconductors with coexisting antiferromagnetic long- range and short-range orders. The mechanism is an extension of the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism to antiferromagnetic conductors, but the resultant phase diagram is quite different. In order to illustrate the mechanism, we examine a model which consists of mobile electrons and antiferromagnetically correlated localized spins with Kondo coupling between them. It is found that for weak Kondo coupling, the superconductivity occurs over an extraordinarily wide region of the magnetic field including zero field. The critical field exceeds the Chandrasekhar and Clogston limit, but there is no lower limit in contrast to the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism. On the other hand, for strong Kondo coupling, both the low-field superconductivity and a field-induced superconductivity occur. Possibilities in hybrid ruthenate cuprate superconductors and some organic superconductors are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, revtex.sty, to be published in J.Phys.Soc.Jpn. Vol.71, No.3 (2002

Temperature dependence of the upper critical field of an anisotropic singlet superconductivity in a square lattice tight-binding model in parallel magnetic fields

Upper critical field parallel to the conducting layer is studied in anisotropic type-II superconductors on square lattices. We assume enough separation of the adjacent layers, for which the orbital pair-breaking effect is suppressed for exactly aligned parallel magnetic field. In particular, we examine the temperature dependence of the critical field H_c(T) of the superconductivity including the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO or LOFF) state, in which the Cooper pairs have non-zero center-of-mass momentum q. In the system with the cylindrically symmetric Fermi-surface, it is known that H_c(T) of the d-wave FFLO state exhibits a kink at a low temperature due to a change of the direction of q in contrast to observations in organic superconductors. It is shown that the kink disappears when the Fermi-surface is anisotropic to some extent, since the direction of q is locked in an optimum direction independent of the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, revtex.sty, submitted to J.Phys.Soc.Jp

The transverse magnetoresistance of the two-dimensional chiral metal

We consider the two-dimensional chiral metal, which exists at the surface of a layered, three-dimensional sample exhibiting the integer quantum Hall effect. We calculate its magnetoresistance in response to a component of magnetic field perpendicular to the sample surface, in the low temperature, but macroscopic, regime where inelastic scattering may be neglected. The magnetoresistance is positive, following a Drude form with a field scale, $B_0=\Phi_0/al_{\text{el}}$, given by the transverse field strength at which one quantum of flux, $\Phi_0$, passes through a rectangle with sides set by the layer-spacing, $a$, and the elastic mean free path, $l_{\text{el}}$. Experimental measurement of this magnetoresistance may therefore provide a direct determination of the elastic mean free path in the chiral metal.Comment: submitted to Phys Rev

Reduction of Pauli paramagnetic pair-breaking effect in antiferromagnetic superconductors

Antiferromagnetic superconductors in a magnetic field are studied. We examine a mechanism which significantly reduces the Pauli paramagnetic pair-breaking effect. The mechanism is realized even in the presence of the orbital pair-breaking effect. We illustrate it using a three-dimensional model with an intercalated magnetic subsystem. The upper critical field is calculated for various parameters. It is shown that the upper critical field can reach several times the pure Pauli paramagnetic limit. The possible relevance to the large upper critical field observed in the heavy fermion antiferromagnetic superconductor CePt_3Si discovered recently is briefly discussed. We try to understand the large upper critical field in the compound CePt_3Si and field-induced superconductivity in the compound CePb_3 within a unified framework.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, revtex4, minor correction

New superconducting phases in field-induced organic superconductor lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4

We derive the parallel upper critical field, Hc2, as a function of the temperature T in quasi-2D organic compound lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4, accounting for the formation of the nonuniform LOFF state. To further check the 2D LOFF model we propose to study the Hc2(T) curve at low T in tilted fields, where the vortex state is described by the high Landau level functions characterized by the index n. We predict a cascade of first order transitions between vortex phases with different n, between phases with different types of the symmetry at given n and the change of the superconducting transition from the second order to the first order as FeCl4 ions are replaced partly by GaCl4 ions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in PR

d-Wave Spin Density Wave phase in the Attractive Hubbard Model with Spin Polarization

We investigate the possibility of unconventional spin density wave (SDW) in the attractive Hubbard model with finite spin polarization. We show that pairing and density fluctuations induce the transverse d-wave SDW near the half-filling. This novel SDW is related to the d-wave superfluidity induced by antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, in the sense that they are connected with each other through Shiba's attraction-repulsion transformation. Our results predict the d-wave SDW in real systems, such as cold Fermi atom gases with population imbalance and compounds involving valence skipper elements

Graphite and Graphene Fairy Circles:A Bottom-Up Approach for the Formation of Nanocorrals

A convenient covalent functionalization approach and nanopatterning method of graphite and graphene is developed. In contrast to expectations, electrochemically activated dediazotization of a mixture of two aryl diazonium compounds in aqueous media leads to a spatially inhomogeneous functionalization of graphitic surfaces, creating covalently modified surfaces with quasi-uniform spaced islands of pristine graphite or graphene, coined nanocorrals. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry approaches are compared. The average diameter (45-130 nm) and surface density (20-125 corrals/μm 2 ) of these nanocorrals are tunable. These chemically modified nanostructured graphitic (CMNG) surfaces are characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Mechanisms leading to the formation of these CMNG surfaces are discussed. The potential of these surfaces to investigate supramolecular self-assembly and on-surface reactions under nanoconfinement conditions is demonstrated. © 2019 American Chemical Society

de Haas-van Alphen Effect in the Two-Dimensional and the Quasi-Two-Dimensional Systems

We study the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation in two-dimensional and quasi-two-dimensional systems. We give a general formula of the dHvA oscillation in two-dimensional multi-band systems. By using this formula, the dHvA oscillation and its temperature-dependence for the two-band system are shown. By introducing the interlayer hopping $t_z$, we examine the crossover from the two-dimension, where the oscillation of the chemical potential plays an important role in the magnetization oscillation, to the three-dimension, where the oscillation of the chemical potential can be neglected as is well know as the Lifshitz and Kosevich formula. The crossover is seen at $4 t_z \sim 8 ta b H /\phi_0$, where a and b are lattice constants, $\phi_0$ is the flux quantum and 8t is the width of the total energy band. We also study the dHvA oscillation in quasi-two-dimensional magnetic breakdown systems. The quantum interference oscillations such as $\beta-\alpha$ oscillation as well as the fundamental oscillations are suppressed by the interlayer hopping $t_z$, while the $\beta+\alpha$ oscillation gradually increases as $t_z$ increases and it has a maximum at $t_z/t\approx 0.025$. This interesting dependence on the dimensionality can be observed in the quasi-two-dimensional organic conductors with uniaxial pressure.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure