Quantum and thermal phase transitions in the Bechgaard salts and their analogs

We report a study of the 16.5 GHz dielectric function of hydrogenated and deuterated organic salts (TMTTF)$_2$PF$_6$. The temperature behavior of the dielectric function is consistent with short-range polar order whose relaxation time decreases rapidly below the charge ordering temperature. If this transition has more a relaxor character in the hydrogenated salt, charge ordering is strengthened in the deuterated one where the transition temperature has increased by more than ...

Among many Bechgaard salts, TMTSF2NO3 exhibits very anomalous low temperature properties. Unlike conventional spin density wave (SDW), TMTSF2NO3 undergoes the SDW transition at $\T_SDW\approx 9.5$ K and the low temperature quasiparticle excitations are gapless. Also, it is known that TMTSF2NO3 does not exhibit superconductivity even under pressure, while FISDW is found in TMTSF2NO3 only for P=8.5 kbar and B>20 T. Here we shall show that both the angle dependent magnetoresista...

(TMTTF)2AsF6 and (TMTTF)2SbF6 are both known to undergo a charge ordering phase transition, though their ground states are different. The ground state of the first is Spin-Peierls, and the second is an antiferromagnet. We study the effect of pressure on the ground states and the charge-ordering using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The experiments demonstrate that the the CO and SP order parameters are repulsive, and consequently the AF state is stabilized when the CO order parameter i...

The families of organic charge-transfer salts $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2X$ and $\kappa$-(BETS)$_2X$ have proven to serve as a powerful playground for the investigation of the physics of frustrated Mott insulators. These materials have been ascribed model character, since dimerization of the organic molecules allows to map these materials onto a single band Hubbard model, in which the dimers reside on an anisotropic triangular lattice. By changing the inorganic unit $X$ or applyin...

We use the two cut-off renormalization group (RG) method to study the spin-Peierls model in one-dimension for the entire phonon frequency range. We integrate out the phonon and solve the effective Fermion system via mean field and RG methods. We make use of the symmetry that the Neel, dimerization, and spin current order parameters form an SU(2) triplet based on resolving the Fermion into left and right movers. We present the phase diagram and discuss its implications for the...

We report comprehensive Raman and infrared investigations of charge-order (CO) fluctuations in the organic metal $\beta^{\prime\prime}$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$SF$_5$CHFSO$_3$ and superconductor $\beta^{\prime\prime}$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$SF$_5$CH$_2$CF$_2$SO$_3$. The charge-sensitive vibrational bands have been analyzed through an extension of the well-known Kubo model for the spectral signatures of an equilibrium between two states. At room temperature, both salts exhibit charge fluctuation...

Using one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy applied to $^{13}$C spin-labeled (TMTTF)$_2$AsF$_6$ and (TMTTF)$_2$PF$_6$, we demonstrate the existence of an intermediate charge-ordered phase in the TMTTF family of charge-transfer salts. At ambient temperature, the spectra are characteristic of nuclei in equivalent environments, or molecules. Below a continuous charge-ordering transition temperature T$_{co}$, the spectra are explained by assuming there are two inequivalent mo...

The Bechgaard salts are made of weakly coupled one dimensional chains. This particular structure gives the possibility to observe in these systems a dimensional crossover between a high temperature (or high energy) one dimensional phase and a two or three dimensional system. Since the filling of the chains is commensurate the system thus undergoes a deconfinement transition from a one dimensional Mott insulator to a two (or three) dimensional metal. Such a transition has of c...

The aim of this contribution is to analyze to some extent the reflectivity of the family of organic salts known as the Bechgaard salts. The reflectivity will be calculated using a well known theoretical framework,and results for the electrical conductivity and susceptibility of these materials. The result obtained for the reflectivity is a non-linear expression depending on various material parameters within the Hubbard model. The position of the region where the reflectivity...

We examine critically two different recently proposed models of charge ordering in the nominally 1/4-filled organic charge transfer solids (CTS). In one dimension, the two models are characterized by site charge densities of the form ...1010... and ...1100..., respectively. We establish the following theoretical results: 1) there exists a critical nearest-neighbor Coulomb interaction (V_c > 2|t|) only above which does the ...1010... state become the ground state; 2) Hartree-F...