Physics Commons^™

Comparative Thermal-Expansion Study Of Β″-(Et)2sf5ch2cf2so3 And Κ-(Et)2cu(Ncs)2: Uniaxial Pressure Coefficients Of Tc And Upper Critical Fields, J. Müller, M. Lang, F. Steglich, J. A. Schlueter, A. M. Kini, U. Geiser, Javid Mohtasham, Rolf Walter Winter, Gary L. Gard, T. Sasaki, N. Toyota

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report high-resolution measurements of the coefficient of thermal expansion, α=l⁻¹ x (δl/δΤ), on single crystals of the organic superconductors β″-(ET)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃ and κ-(ET)₂Cu(NCS)₂. For both salts we find large and highly anisotropic phase-transition anomalies at Tc. Combining these data with literature results on the specific heat via the Ehrenfest relation, the uniaxial pressure coefficients of Tc can be determined. Most remarkably, a strikingly similar in-plane vs out-of-plane anisotropy is found for both compounds: the strong suppression of Tc observed in hydrostatic-pressure experiments is dominated by a huge negative uniaxial stress effect perpendicular to the conducting planes. Therefore we expect that …