Disorder-induced gap in the normal density of states of the organic superconductor $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br

TL;DR

This study uses scanning tunneling spectroscopy to reveal a disorder-induced soft Hubbard gap in an organic superconductor, persisting above the critical temperature and explaining suppressed coherence peaks.

Contribution

It demonstrates the presence of a disorder-induced soft Hubbard gap in an organic superconductor, aligning experimental observations with the Anderson-Hubbard model.

Findings

Logarithmic suppression of the density of states near the Fermi edge.

Persistence of the gap above the superconducting transition temperature.

Disorder explains diminished coherence peaks below T_c.

Abstract

The density of states of the organic superconductor $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br, measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy on \textit{in-situ} cleaved surfaces, reveals a logarithmic suppression near the Fermi edge persisting above the critical temperature $T_\mathrm{c}$. A soft Hubbard gap as predicted by the Anderson-Hubbard model for systems with disorder exactly describes the experimentally observed suppression. The electronic disorder also explains the diminished coherence peaks of the quasiparticle density of states below $T_\mathrm{c}$.