Comment on "Magnetic quantum oscillations of the conductivity in layered conductors"

We discuss the recent theory of Gvozdikov [Phys. Rev. B 70, 085113 (2004)] which aims at explaining the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations of the longitudinal resistivity \rho_zz observed in the quasi-two-dimensional organic compound \beta''-(BEDT-TTF)_2SF_5CH_2CF_2SO_3. We point out that the self-consistent equations of the theory yielding the longitudinal resistivity and the magnetic field dependence of the chemical potential have been incorrectly solved. We show that the consideration of the self-consistent Born approximation (which determines the relaxation rate in Gvozdikov's paper) leads in fact to the complete absence of the longitudinal conductivity \sigma_{zz} at leading order in high magnetic fields.Comment: 4 pages, no figur

Comment on ``London Theory for Superconducting Phase Transitions in External Magnetic Fields: Application to UPt3\text{UPt}_{3}''

The authors of the Letter PRL 89, 017004 (2002) predict nontrivial flux lattice structures in UPt3 in vicinity of the superconducting transition between the A and B phases for low magnetic fields, an important conclusion for motivating future experiments. We show that the approach and the conclusions of this Letter are wrong. The transitions between the different superconducting phases in the mixed state are pointed out to be rather crossovers than real second-order phase transitions within the most popular theoretical models of a two-component superconducting order parameter for UPt3.Comment: 2 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (December 2002

De Haas-van Alphen effect in two- and quasi two-dimensional metals and superconductors

An analytical form of the quantum magnetization oscillations (de Haas-van Alphen effect) is derived for two- and quasi two-dimensional metals in normal and superconducting mixed states. The theory is developed under condition that the chemical potential is much greater than the cyclotron frequency, which is proved to be valid for using grand canonical ensemble in the systems of low dimensionality. Effects of impurity, temperature, spin-splitting and vortex lattice - in the case of superconductors of type II -, are taken into account. Contrary to the three dimensional case, the oscillations in sufficiently pure systems of low dimensionality and at sufficiently low temperatures are characterized by a saw-tooth wave form, which smoothened with temperature and concentration of impurities growth. In the normal quasi two-dimensional systems, the expression for the magnetization oscillations includes an extra factor expressed through the transfer integral between the layers. The additional damping effect due to the vortex lattice is found. The criterion of proximity to the upper critical field for the observation of de Haas-van Alphen effect in the superconducting mixed state is established.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, revised versio

Magnetic Quantum Oscillations of the Longitudinal Conductivity σzz\sigma_{zz} in Quasi two-dimensional Metals

We derive an analytical expression for the longitudinal magnetoconductivity $\sigma_{zz}$ in layered conductors in presence of a quantizing magnetic field perpendicular to the layers and for short-range in-plane impurity scattering in frame of the quantum transport theory. Our derivation points out quite unusual temperature and magnetic field dependences for Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the two-dimensional limit, i.e. $\hbar \omega_{c} \gg 4 \pi t$, where $t$ is the interlayer hopping integral for electrons, and $\omega_{c}$ the cyclotron frequency. In particular, when $\hbar \omega_{c} \gg 4 \pi t$ and $\hbar \omega_{c} \geq 2 \pi \Gamma_{\mu}$ (here $\Gamma_{\mu}$ is the value of the imaginary part of the impurity self-energy at the chemical potential $\mu$), a pseudo-gap centered on integer values of $\mu/\hbar\omega_{c}$ appears in the zero-temperature magnetoconductivity function $\sigma_{zz}(\mu/\hbar\omega_{c})$. At low temperatures, this high-field regime is characterized by a thermally activated behavior of the conductivity minima (when chemical potential $\mu$ lies between Landau levels) in correspondence with the recent observation in the organic conductor $\beta''\text{-(BEDT-TTF)}_{2}\text{SF}_{5}\text{CH}_{2}\text{CF}_{2}\text{SO}_ {3}$.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Transport of Dirac quasiparticles in graphene: Hall and optical conductivities

The analytical expressions for both diagonal and off-diagonal ac and dc conductivities of graphene placed in an external magnetic field are derived. These conductivities exhibit rather unusual behavior as functions of frequency, chemical potential and applied field which is caused by the fact that the quasiparticle excitations in graphene are Dirac-like. One of the most striking effects observed in graphene is the odd integer quantum Hall effect. We argue that it is caused by the anomalous properties of the Dirac quasiparticles from the lowest Landau level. Other quantities such as Hall angle and Nernst signal also exhibit rather unusual behavior, in particular when there is an excitonic gap in the spectrum of the Dirac quasiparticle excitations.Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX4, 8 EPS figures; final version published in PR

Theory of the Shubnikov-de Haas effect in quasi-two-dimensional metals

The Shubnikov - de Haas effect in quasi-two-dimensional normal metals is studied. The interlayer conductivity is calculated using the Kubo formula. The electron scattering on short-range is considered in the self-consistent Born approximation. The result obtained differs from that derived from the Boltzmann transport equation. This difference is shown to be a general feature of conductivity in magnetic field. A detailed description of the two new qualitative effects -- the field-dependent phase shift of beats and of the slow oscillations of conductivity is provided. The results obtained are applicable to strongly anisotropic organic metals and to other quasi-two-dimensional compounds.Comment: 10 page

Slow oscillations of magnetoresistance in quasi-two-dimensional metals

Slow oscillations of the interlayer magnetoresistance observed in the layered organic metal $\beta$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$IBr$_2$ are shown to originate from the slight warping of its Fermi surface rather than from independent small cyclotron orbits. Unlike the usual Shubnikov-de Haas effect, these oscillations are not affected by the temperature smearing of the Fermi distribution and can therefore become dominant at high enough temperatures. We suggest that the slow oscillations are a general feature of clean quasi-two-dimensional metals and discuss possible applications of the phenomenon.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Monotonic growth of interlayer magnetoresistance in strong magnetic field in very anisotropic layered metals

It is shown, that the monotonic part of interlayer electronic conductivity strongly decreases in high magnetic field perpendicular to the conducting layers. We consider only the coherent interlayer tunnelling, and the obtained result strongly contradicts the standard theory. This effect appears in very anisotropic layered quasi-two-dimensional metals, when the interlayer transfer integral is less than the Landau level separation.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

On the theory of superconductivity in ferromagnetic superconductors with triplet pairing

We point out that ferromagnetic superconductors with triplet pairing and strong spin-orbit coupling are even in the simplest case at least two-band superconductors. The Gor'kov type formalism for such superconductors is developed and the Ginzburg-Landau equations are derived. The dependence of the critical temperature on the concentration of ordinary point-like impurities is found. Its nonuniversality could serve as a qualitative measure of the two-band character of ferromagnetic superconductors. The problem of the upper critical field determination is also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, no figure; important changes with respect to the previous versions due to the correction of a mistake: in this new version, a more general form is considered for the order parameter (the two-components of the order parameter were considered before as equal, which is in general not true) ; submitted to Physical Review