Importance of one-dimensional correlations in the phase diagram of the (TMTTF)2-(TMTSF)2-X salts

One-Dimensional Alternating Extended Hubbard Model at Quarter-Filling and Its Applications to Structural Instabilities of Organic Conductors

The one-dimensional extended Hubbard model with lattice dimerization and alternated site potentials is analyzed using the renormalization group method. The coupling of electrons to structural degrees of freedom such as the anion lattice and acoustic phonons is investigated to obtain the possible instabilities against the formation of lattice superstructures. Applications of the theory to anionic and spin-Peierls instabilities in the Fabre and Bechgaard salts series of organic conductors and ordered alloys are presented and discussed.

Pressure-dependent optical investigations of Fabre salts in the charge-ordered state

In a comprehensive infrared study, the molecular vibrational features of (TMTTF)₂SbF₆, (TMTTF)₂AsF₆ and (TMTTF)₂PF₆ single crystals have been measured down to temperatures as low as 7 K by applying hydrostatic pressure up to 11 kbar. We follow the charge disproportionation below the critical temperatures T _CO as pressure increases, and determine the critical pressure values p _CO at which the charge-ordered phase is suppressed. The coexistence of the spin-Peierls phase with charge order is explored at low temperatures, and the competition of these two phases is observed. Based on our measurements we construct a generic phase diagram of the Fabre salts with centrosymmetric anions. The pressure-dependent anion and methyl-group dynamics in these quasi-one-dimensional charge transfer compounds yields information about the interplay of the organic molecules in the stacks and the anions, and how this interaction varies upon the transition to the charge-ordered state.

Triplet superconducting pairing and density-wave instabilities in organic conductors

Using a renormalization group approach, we determine the phase diagram of an extended quasi-one-dimensional electron gas model that includes interchain hopping, nesting deviations, and both intrachain and interchain repulsive interactions. We find a close proximity of spin-density- and charge-density-wave phases and singlet d-wave and triplet f-wave superconducting phases. There is a striking correspondence between our results and recent puzzling experimental findings in the Bechgaard salts, including the coexistence of spin-density-wave and charge-density-wave phases and the possibility of a triplet pairing in the superconducting phase.