Field-Induced Spin-Density-Wave Phases in Quasi-One-Dimensional Conductors: Theory versus Experiment

TL;DR

This paper challenges the traditional 'Quantized Nesting' model for magnetic field-induced spin-density waves in quasi-one-dimensional conductors, highlighting discrepancies with experimental observations and proposing a more accurate theoretical framework.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the FISDW wave vector is not strictly quantized and explains complex phase behaviors observed experimentally in (TMTSF)2PF6.

Findings

FISDW wave vector is not strictly quantized

Presence of two distinct regions in the FISDW phase diagram

Experimental agreement with the revised theoretical model

Abstract

We show that "Quantizied Nesting" model misses important features of the magnetic field-induced spin-density-wave (FISDW) phase diagram. Among them are: 1) the FISDW wave vector is not strictly quantized; 2) in some compounds, the FISDW diagram consists of two regions: a) at low temperatures, there are jumps of the wave vector (i.e., the first order transitions between FISDW phases), b) at high temperatures the jumps and the first order transitions disappear but the wave vector is still a non-trivial function of a magnetic field. These are in agreement with the experiments on (TMTSF)2PF6.