# Quasi-one-dimensional superconductors: from weak to strong magnetic field

## I INTRODUCTION

According to conventional wisdom, superconductivity and high magnetic field are incompatible. A magnetic field acting on the orbital electronic motion breaks down time-reversal symmetry and ultimately restores the metallic phase. In the case of singlet pairing, the coupling of the field to the electron spins also suppresses the superconducting order (Pauli or Clogston-Chandrasekhar limit ).

Recently, this conventional point of view has been challenged, both theoretically \[2-6\] and experimentally , in particular in quasi-1D organic materials. Because of their open Fermi surface, these superconductors exhibit unusual properties in presence of a magnetic field. As first recognized by Lebed’ , the possible existence of a superconducting phase at high magnetic field results from a magnetic-field-induced dimensional crossover that freezes the orbital mechanism of destruction of superconductivity. Moreover, the Pauli pair breaking (PPB) effect can be largely compensated by the formation of a Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) state \[2-5,8\].

The aim of this paper is to discuss three aspects of high-field superconductivity in quasi-1D conductors: the formation of a LOFF state (i), and the respective roles of temperature-induced (ii) and magnetic-field-induced (iii) dimensional crossovers.

We consider a quasi-1D superconductor with an open Fermi surface corresponding to the dispersion law ($`\mathrm{}=k_B=1`$)

$$E_𝐤=v_F(|k_x|k_F)+t_y\mathrm{cos}(k_yb)+t_z\mathrm{cos}(k_zd)+\mu .$$
(1)   
$`\mu `$ is the Fermi energy, and $`v_F`$ the Fermi velocity for the motion along the chains. $`t_y`$ and $`t_z`$ ($`t_yt_z`$) are the transfer integrals between chains. The magnetic field $`H`$ is applied along the $`y`$ direction and we denote by $`T_{c0}`$ the zero-field transition temperature. \[In Bechgaard salts, $`T_{c0}1`$ K, and $`t_c=t_z/2`$ is in the range 2-10 K .\]

## II LOFF STATE IN QUASI-1D SUPERCONDUCTORS

We first discuss the effect of a magnetic field acting on the electron spins. Larkin and Ovchinnikov, and Fulde and Ferrell, have shown that the destructive influence of Pauli paramagnetism on superconductivity can be partially compensated by pairing up and down spins with a non-zero total momentum . At low temperature (i.e. high magnetic field), when $`TT_00.56T_{c0}`$, this non-uniform state becomes more stable than the uniform state corresponding to a vanishing momentum of Cooper pairs.

Quasi-1D superconductors appear very particular with respect to the existence of a LOFF state . The fundamental reason is that, because of the quasi-1D structure of the Fermi surface, the partial compensation of the Pauli pair breaking effect by a spatial modulation of the order parameter is much more efficient than in isotropic systems. Indeed, a proper choice of the Cooper pairs momentum allows one to keep one half of the phase space available for pairing whatever the value of the magnetic field. Thus, the critical field $`H_{c2}(T)1/T`$ diverges at low temperature .

## III TEMPERATURE-INDUCED DIMENSIONAL CROSSOVER

At low temperature, strongly anisotropic superconductors may exhibit a dimensional crossover that allows the superconducting phase to persist at arbitrary strong field (in the mean-field approximation) in the absence of PPB effect.

Within the Ginzburg-Landau theory, at high temperature ($`TT_{c0}`$) the mixed state is an (anisotropic) vortex lattice. The critical field $`H_{c2}(T)`$ is determined by $`H_{c2}(T)=\varphi _0/2\pi \xi _x(T)\xi _z(T)`$ where $`\xi _x`$ and $`\xi _z`$ are the superconducting coherence lengths and $`\varphi _0`$ the flux quantum. When the anisotropy is large enough, i.e. when $`t_z\stackrel{<}{}T_{c0}`$, $`\xi _z(T)`$ can become at low temperature of the order or even smaller than the lattice spacing $`d`$. Vortex cores, which have an extension $`\xi _z(T)`$ in the $`z`$ direction, can then fit between planes without destroying the superconducting order in the planes. The superconducting state is a Josephson vortex lattice and is always stable at low temperature for arbitrary magnetic field (see Fig. 3 in Ref. 4). A proper description of this situation, which takes into account the discreteness of the lattice in the $`z`$ direction, is given by the Lawrence-Doniach model .

It is tempting to conclude that this temperature-induced dimensional crossover, together with the formation of a LOFF state, could lead to a diverging critical field $`H_{c2}(T)`$ at low temperature. It has been shown in Ref. 4 that this is not the case: the PPB effect strongly suppresses the high-field superconducting phase (this point is further discussed in sect. 4.1 (see Fig. 1.b)). Therefore the temperature-induced dimensional crossover cannot explain the critical field $`H_{c2}(T)`$ measured in Bechgaard salts  in the case of spin singlet pairing.

## IV MAGNETIC-FIELD-INDUCED DIMENSIONAL CROSSOVER

The microscopic justification of the Ginzburg-Landau or Lawrence-Doniach theory of the mixed state of type II superconductors is based on a semiclassical approximation (known as the semiclassical phase integral or eikonal approximation) that completely neglects the quantum effects of the magnetic field. At low temperature (or high magnetic field) and in sufficiently clean superconductors, when $`\omega _cT,\tau `$ ($`\omega _c=eHdv_F/\mathrm{}`$ being the frequency of the semiclassical electronic motion, and $`\tau `$ the elastic scattering time), these effects cannot be neglected and an exact description of the field is required.

To be more specific, we write the Green’s function (or electron propagator) as 

$$G(𝐫_1,𝐫_2)=\mathrm{exp}\left\{ie_{𝐫_1}^{𝐫_2}𝑑𝐥𝐀\right\}\overline{G}(𝐫_1𝐫_2),$$
(2)   
where $`𝐀`$ is the vector potential. The Ginzburg-Landau or Lawrence-Doniach theory identifies $`\overline{G}`$ with the Green’s function $`G_0`$ in the absence of magnetic field. The latter intervenes only through the phase factor $`ie_{𝐫_1}^{𝐫_2}𝑑𝐥𝐀`$, which breaks down time-reversal symmetry and tends to suppress the superconducting order.

When $`\omega _cT,1/\tau `$, the approximation $`\overline{G}=G_0`$ breaks down and a proper treatment of the field is required. In isotropic systems, $`\overline{G}`$ includes all the information about Landau level quantization. In strongly anisotropic conductors, it describes a magnetic-field-induced dimensional crossover , i.e. a confinement of the electrons in the planes of highest conductivity. The same conclusion can be reached by considering the semiclassical equation of motion $`\mathrm{}d𝐤/dt=e𝐯\times 𝐇`$ with $`𝐯=\mathbf{}E_𝐤`$. The corresponding electronic orbits in real space are of the form (neglecting for simplicity the (free) motion along the field) $`z=z_0+d(t_z/\omega _c)\mathrm{cos}(\omega _cx/v_F)`$. The electronic motion is extended along the chains (and the magnetic field direction), but confined with respect to the $`z`$ direction with an extension $`d(t_z/\omega _c)1/H`$. In very strong field $`\omega _ct_z`$, the amplitude of the orbits becomes smaller than the lattice spacing $`d`$ showing that the electronic motion is localized in the $`(x,y)`$ planes. The latter being parallel to the magnetic field, the orbital frustration of the superconducting order parameter vanishes (there is no magnetic flux through the 2D Cooper pairs located in the $`(x,y)`$ planes).

### A Large anisotropy

Fig. 1.a shows the phase diagram in the exact mean-field approximation in the case of a weak interplane transfer $`t_z/T_{c0}1.33`$. $`Q`$ is a pseudo momentum for the Cooper pairs in the field \[3-5\]. At high temperature ($`TT_{c0}`$), the mixed state is an Abrikosov vortex lattice, and $`T_c`$ decreases linearly with the field. $`T_c`$ does not depend on $`Q`$ in this regime, which is shown symbolically by the shaded triangle in Fig. 1.a. For $`H0.3`$ T, the system undergoes a temperature-induced dimensional crossover, which leads to an upward curvature of the transition line. This dimensional crossover selects the value $`Q=0`$ of the pseudo momentum. The PPB effect becomes important for $`H2`$ T and leads to a formation of a LOFF state ($`Q`$ then switches to a finite value). At higher field, $`Q2\mu _BH/v_F`$ ($`\mu _B`$ is the Bohr magneton), and $`T_c`$ exhibits again an upward curvature.

Fig. 1.b shows the phase diagram obtained in the Lawrence-Doniach model . The metallic phase is restored above a field $`H2.7`$ T, and the LOFF state is stable only in a narrow window around $`H2.6`$ T. Only when the magnetic-field-induced dimensional crossover is taken into account does the LOFF state remain stable at very high magnetic field. In a microscopic picture, the dimensional crossover shows up as a localization of the single-particle wave functions with a concomitant quantization of the spectrum into a Wannier-Stark ladder (i.e. a set of 1D spectra if we neglect the energy dispersion along the field). This is precisely this quantization that allows one to construct a LOFF state in a way similar to the 1D or (zero-field) quasi-1D case . Thus, when the field is treated semiclassically, the region of stability of the LOFF state in the $`HT`$ plane becomes very narrow as in isotropic 2D or 3D systems .

### B Smaller anisotropy

For a smaller anisotropy, the coherence length $`\xi _z(T)`$ is always larger than the spacing between chains: $`\xi _z(T)\xi _z(T=0)>d`$. There is no possibility of a temperature-induced dimensional crossover.

Fig. 2.a shows the phase diagram without the PPB effect for $`t_z/T_{c0}4`$. The low-field Ginzburg-Landau regime (corresponding to the shaded triangle in Fig. 2) is followed by a cascade of superconducting phases separated by first-order transitions. These phases correspond to either $`Q=0`$ or $`Q=G\omega _c/v_F`$ . In the quantum regime, the field-induced localization of the wave functions plays a crucial role in the pairing mechanism. The transverse periodicity $`a_z`$ of the vortex lattice is not determined by the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length $`\xi _z(T)`$ but by the magnetic length $`d(t_z/\omega _c)`$. The first order phase transitions are due to commensurability effects between the crystal lattice spacing $`d`$ and $`a_z`$: each phase corresponds to a periodicity $`a_z=Nd`$ ($`N`$ integer). $`N`$ decreases by one unit at each phase transition. The mixed state evolves from a triangular Abrikosov vortex lattice in weak field to a triangular Josephson vortex lattice in very high field (where $`N=2`$). It has been pointed out that $`a_z`$ decreases in both the Ginzburg-Landau and quantum regimes, but increases at the crossover between the two regimes where $`\omega _cT`$ . This suggests that the mixed state exhibits unusual characteristics in the quantum regime. Indeed, the amplitude of the order parameter and the current distribution show a symmetry of laminar type. In particular, each chain carries a non-zero total current (except the last phase $`N=2`$). We expect these unusual characteristics to influence various physical measurements.

Fig. 2.b shows the phase diagram when the PPB effect is taken into account. There is an interplay between the cascade of phases and the formation of a LOFF state. The latter corresponds to phases with $`Q=2\mu _BH/v_F`$ and $`Q=G2\mu _BH/v_F`$.

## V CONCLUSION

Our discussion shows that a temperature-induced dimensional crossover could explain recent experiments in the Bechgaard salts only in the case of triplet pairing, although this would require a value of the interchain coupling $`t_z`$ slightly smaller than what is commonly expected . In the more likely case of singlet pairing, the existence of a high-field superconducting phase in quasi-1D conductors may result from a magnetic-field-induced dimensional crossover and the formation of a LOFF state. The crossover between the semiclassical Ginzburg-Landau and quantum regimes, which occurs when $`\omega _cT`$, is accompanied by an increase of the transverse periodicity of the vortex lattice. This, as well as the characteristics of the vortex lattice in the quantum regime (laminar symmetry of the order parameter amplitude and the current distribution), suggests that the high-field superconducting phase in quasi-1D conductors should exhibit unique properties.

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