No Arabic abstract
We report the transport properties in the vortex liquid states induced by quantum fluctuations at low temperature in the layered organic superconductor kappa-(BEDT-TTF)_{2} Cu(NCS)_{2}. A steep drop of the resistivity observed below about 1 K separates the liquid state into two regions. In the low resistance state at lower temperature, a finite resistivity with weak temperature dependence persists down to 100 mK at least. The finite resistivity in the vortex state at T ~= 0 K indicates the realization of quantum vortex liquid assisted by the strong quantum fluctuations instead of the thermal one. A possible origin for separating these liquid states is a remnant vortex melting line at the original position, which is obscured and suppressed by the quantum fluctuations. A non-linear behavior of the in-plane resistivity appears at large current density in only the low resistance state, but not in another vortex liquid state at higher temperature, where the thermal fluctuations are dominant. The transport properties in the low resistance state are well understood in the vortex slush concept with a short-range order of vortices. Thus the low resistance state below 1 K is considered to be a novel quantum vortex slush state.
The suppression of superconductivity by nonmagnetic disorder is investigated systematically in the organic superconductor $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu(NCS)$_2$. We introduce a nonmagnetic disorder arising from molecule substitution in part with deuterated BEDT-TTF or BMDT-TTF for BEDT-TTF molecules and molecular defects introduced by X-ray irradiation. A quantitative evaluation of the scattering time $tau_{rm dHvA}$ is carried out by de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect measurement. A large reduction in $T_{rm c}$ with a linear dependence on $1/tau_{rm dHvA}$ is found in the small-disorder region below $1/tau_{rm dHvA} simeq$ 1 $times$ 10$^{12}$ s$^{-1}$ in both the BMDT-TTF molecule-substituted and X-ray-irradiated samples. The observed linear relation between $T_{rm c}$ and $1/tau_{rm dHvA}$ is in agreement with the Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) formula, at least in the small-disorder region. This observation is reasonably consistent with the unconventional superconductivity proposed thus far for the present organic superconductor. A deviation from the AG formula, however, is observed in the large-disorder region above $1/tau_{rm dHvA} simeq$ 1 $times$ 10$^{12}$ s$^{-1}$, which reproduces the previous transport study (J. G. Analytis {it et al.}: Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 96} (2006) 177002). We present some interpretations of this deviation from the viewpoints of superconductivity and the inherent difficulties in the evaluation of scattering time.
The magnetic field effect on the phase diagram of the organic Mott system $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Br in which the bandwidth was tuned by the substitution of deuterated molecules was studied by means of the resistivity measurements performed in magnetic fields. The lower critical point of the first-order Mott transition, which ended on the upper critical field $H_{rm c2}$-temperature plane of the superconductivity, was determined experimentally in addition to the previously observed upper critical end point. The lower critical end point moved to a lower temperature with the suppression of $T_{rm c}$ in magnetic fields and the Mott transition recognized so far as the $S$-shaped curve reached $T =$ 0 when $H > H_{rm c2}$ in the end.
The thermal conductivity of organic superconductor kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2 (Tc =10.4 K) has been studied in a magnetic field rotating within the 2D superconducting planes with high alignment precision. At low temperatures (T < 0.5 K), a clear fourfold symmetry in the angular variation, which is characteristic of a d-wave superconducting gap with nodes along the directions rotated 45 degrees relative to the b and c axes of the crystal, was resolved. The determined nodal structure is inconsistent with recent theoretical predictions of superconductivity induced by the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuation.
We performed $^{13}$C-NMR experiment and measured spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by temperature $1/T_{1}T$ near the superconducting (SC) transition temperature $T_{c}$ in $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Br ($kappa$-Br salt), and $kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu(NCS)$_{2}$ ($kappa$-NCS salt). We observed the reduction of $1/T_{1}T$ starting at the temperature higher than $T_c$ in $kappa$-Br salt. Microscopic observation of quasi-particle density of states in the fluctuating SC state revealed the effects of short-range Cooper pairs induced in the normal state to the quasi-particle density of states. We also performed systematic measurements in the fields both parallel and perpendicular to the conduction plane in $kappa$-Br and $kappa$-NCS salts, and confirmed that the reduction of $1/T_{1}T$ above $T_{c}$ is observed only in $kappa$-Br salt regardless of the external field orientation.
The specific heat of the layered organic superconductor $kappa$-% (BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu(NCS)$_2$, where BEDT-TTF is bisethylenedithio-% tetrathiafulvalene, has been studied in magnetic fields up to 28 T applied perpendicular and parallel to the superconducting layers. In parallel fields above 21 T, the superconducting transition becomes first order, which signals that the Pauli-limiting field is reached. Instead of saturating at this field value, the upper critical field increases sharply and a second first-order transition line appears within the superconducting phase. Our results give strong evidence that the phase, which separates the homogeneous superconducting state from the normal state is a realization of a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state.