Three-quarter Dirac points, Landau levels and magnetization in $\alpha$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the electronic properties of -(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$ under pressure, revealing a new type of band crossing called three-quarter Dirac points and analyzing their unique Landau level and magnetization behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of three-quarter Dirac points with quadratic-linear dispersion and explores their impact on Landau levels and magnetization in the material.

Findings

Discovery of three-quarter Dirac points at critical pressure.

Unique magnetic field dependence of Landau levels at these points.

Observation of both conventional and unusual quantum oscillations.

Abstract

The energies as a function of the magnetic field ($H$) and the pressure are studied theoretically in the tight-binding model for the two-dimensional organic conductor, $\alpha$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$, in which massless Dirac fermions are realized. The effects of the uniaxial pressure ($P$) are studied by using the pressure-dependent hopping parameters. The system is semi-metallic with the same area of an electron pocket and a hole pocket at $P < 3.0$~kbar, where the energies $(\varepsilon_{\rm D}^0$) at the Dirac points locate below the Fermi energy $(\varepsilon_{\rm F}^0$) when $H=0$. We find that at $P=2.3$~kbar the Dirac cones are critically tilted. In that case a new type of band crossing occurs at "three-quarter"-Dirac points, i.e., the dispersion is quadratic in one direction and linear in the other three directions. We obtain new magnetic-field-dependences of the Landau levels $(\varepsilon_n)$; $\varepsilon_n-\varepsilon^0_{\textrm{D}} \propto (n H)^{4/5}$ at $P=2.3$~kbar ("three-quarter"-Dirac points) and $|\varepsilon_n-\varepsilon_{\rm F}^0| \propto (n H)^2$ at $P=3.0$~kbar (the critical pressure for the semi-metallic state). We also study the magnetization as a function of the inverse magnetic field. We obtain two types of quantum oscillations. One is the usual de Haas van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation, and the other is the unusual dHvA-like oscillation which is seen even in the system without the Fermi surface.