Experimental study of organic zero-gap conductor α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

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Abstract

A zero-gap state with a Dirac cone type energy dispersion was discovered in the organic conductor α-(BEDT-TTF) 2I 3 under high hydrostatic pressures. This is the first two-dimensional (2D) zero-gap state discovered in bulk crystals with a layered structure. In contrast to the case of graphene, the Dirac cone in this system is highly anisotropic. The present system, therefore, provides a new type of massless Dirac fermion system with anisotropic Fermi velocity. This system exhibits remarkable transport phenomena characteristic to electrons on the Dirac cone type energy structure. The carrier density, written as n∝ T 2, is a characteristic feature of the 2D zero-gap structure. On the other hand, the resistivity per layer (sheet resistance R S) is given as R S= h/ e 2 and is independent of temperature. The effect of a magnetic field on samples in the zero-gap system was examined. The difference between zero-gap conductors and conventional conductors is the appearance of a Landau level called the zero mode at the contact points when a magnetic field is applied normal to the conductive layer. Zero-mode Landau carriers give rise to strong negative out-of-plane magnetoresistance.

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Two-Dimensional Gas of Massless Dirac Fermions in Graphene

A Firsov, I. Grigorieva, S Dubonos … (2005)

Electronic properties of materials are commonly described by quasiparticles that behave as non-relativistic electrons with a finite mass and obey the Schroedinger equation. Here we report a condensed matter system where electron transport is essentially governed by the Dirac equation and charge carriers mimic relativistic particles with zero mass and an effective "speed of light" c* ~10^6m/s. Our studies of graphene - a single atomic layer of carbon - have revealed a variety of unusual phenomena characteristic of two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermions. In particular, we have observed that a) the integer quantum Hall effect in graphene is anomalous in that it occurs at half-integer filling factors; b) graphene's conductivity never falls below a minimum value corresponding to the conductance quantum e^2/h, even when carrier concentrations tend to zero; c) the cyclotron mass m of massless carriers with energy E in graphene is described by equation E =mc*^2; and d) Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in graphene exhibit a phase shift of pi due to Berry's phase.

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Experimental Observation of Quantum Hall Effect and Berry's Phase in Graphene

Horst L. Stormer, Yan-Wen Tan, Yuanbo Zhang … (2005)

When electrons are confined in two-dimensional (2D) materials, quantum mechanically enhanced transport phenomena, as exemplified by the quantum Hall effects (QHE), can be observed. Graphene, an isolated single atomic layer of graphite, is an ideal realization of such a 2D system. Here, we report an experimental investigation of magneto transport in a high mobility single layer of graphene. Adjusting the chemical potential using the electric field effect, we observe an unusual half integer QHE for both electron and hole carriers in graphene. Vanishing effective carrier masses is observed at Dirac point in the temperature dependent Shubnikov de Haas oscillations, which probe the 'relativistic' Dirac particle-like dispersion. The relevance of Berry's phase to these experiments is confirmed by the phase shift of magneto-oscillations, related to the exceptional topology of the graphene band structure.