Quantum limit in a magnetic field for triplet superconductivity in a quasi-one-dimensional conductor

Abstract

We theoretically consider the upper critical magnetic field, perpendicular to a conducting axis in a triplet quasi-one-dimensional superconductor. In particular, we demonstrate that, at high magnetic fields, the orbital effects against superconductivity in a magnetic field are reversible and, therefore, superconductivity can restore. It is important that the above mentioned quantum limit can be achieved in presumably triplet quasi-one-dimensional superconductor Li0.9Mo6O17 [J.-F. Mercure et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 187003 (2012)] at laboratory available pulsed magnetic fields of the order of H = 500 − 700 T .PACS numbers: 74.20. Rp, 74.70.Kn, 74.25.Op High magnetic field properties of quasi-onedimensional (Q1D) conductors and superconductors have been intensively studied since the discovery of the Field-Induced Spin-Density-Wave (FISDW) cascade of phase transitions [1][2][3][4]. Note that the FISDW phenomenon, experimentally discovered in the (TMTSF) 2 X compounds [1,2], where X=ClO 4 and X=PF 6 , was historically the first one which was successfully explained in terms of quasi-classical 3D → 2D dimensional crossover in high magnetic fields [3,[5][6][7]. At present, it has been established that different kinds of quasi-classical dimensional crossovers in a magnetic field are responsible for such unusual phenomena in layered Q1D conductors as the Field-Induced Charge-Density-Wave (FICDW) phase transitions [3,5,8,9], Danner-Kang-Chaikin oscillations [3,10], Lebed Magic Angles [3,11,12], and Lee-NaughtonLebed oscillations [3,[13][14][15][16]. Note that a characteristic property of the quasi-classical dimensional crossovers is that the typical "sizes" of electron trajectories in a magnetic field are much lager than the inter-plane or inter-chain distances in layered Q1D conductors.On the other hand, a different type of dimensional crossovers in a magnetic field -the so-called quantum dimensional crossover [3] -was suggested in Ref.[17] to describe magnetic properties of a superconducting phase. More specifically, it was shown [17][18][19][20][21][22] that, at high enough magnetic fields, the typical "sizes" of electron trajectories become of the order of inter-plane distances and superconductivity can restore as a pure 2D phase. Note that the above mentioned conclusion is valid only for some triplet superconducting phases which are not sensitive to the Pauli paramagnetic effects in a magnetic field. Due to this reason, Q1D superconductors (TMTSF) 2 X were considered for many years to be the best candidates for this Reentrant Superconductivity (RS) phenomenon, since triplet superconducting pairing was suggested [23,24] to exist in these materials. Recently, it has been shown [25,22,26] that d-wave singlet superconducting phase is more likely to exist in the (TMTSF) 2 ClO 4 , therefore, the RS phenomenon experimentally reveals itself in this compound only as the hidden RS phase [22].As to the superconductor (TMTSF) 2 PF 6 , the existing experimental data about nature of superconducting pairing in this compound a...

Possible restoration of superconductivity in the quasi-one-dimensional conductorLi0.9Mo6O17in pulsed high magnetic fieldsH≃

“…Note that this phenomenon, which we call reentrant superconductivity, was first suggested in Ref. [13] and is different from the quantum limit (QL) superconductivity, suggested for a purely three-dimensional (3D) case by Razolt and Tesanovic [17] and for a Q1D case by us [18].…”

Quantum limit in a quasi-one-dimensional conductor in a high tilted magnetic field

“…(23) for the Bessel functions, we can conclude that Eqs. (24) and (25) have the following solutions:…”

“…[26], where the so-called quasiclassical Peierls substitution method was used. Our conclusion is that the Peierls substitution methods is adequate not only for quasi-classical dimensional crossovers [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], where the "sizes" of electron orbits are larger than inter-chain and inter-plane distances, but also for quantum dimensional crossovers [21][22][23][24][25][26][27], where the "sizes' of the orbits are less than inter-chain and inter-plane distances, In some sense, in this paper we have validated previously obtained well-known results [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], [21][22][23][24][25][26][27], and some others.…”

Possible existence of superconductivity in the quasi-one-dimensional conductorLi0.9Mo6O17at ultrahigh magnetic fields (Lebed1 2016Phys. Rev. BSelf Cite0000View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…Our estimation by means of Eq. (29) shows that the parameter H * is equal to H * ≃ 95 T , therefore, experimental superconductivity probably corresponds to the Ginzburg-Landau region or exists close to it (see Fig.1). …”

“…quantum effects of electron motion in a magnetic field become strong [2] and novel the so-called Reentrant Su-perconductivity phase may appear [4,25,29]. If the inequalities (15), (16) are not fulfilled and, therefore,…”