Test for interlayer coherence in a quasi-two-dimensional superconductor

John Singleton; P A Goddard; A Ardavan; N Harrison; S J Blundell; J A Schlueter; A M Kini

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.037001

Test for interlayer coherence in a quasi-two-dimensional superconductor

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jan 21;88(3):037001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.037001. Epub 2002 Jan 2.

Authors

John Singleton¹, P A Goddard, A Ardavan, N Harrison, S J Blundell, J A Schlueter, A M Kini

Affiliation

¹ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, LANL, MS-E536, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.

PMID: 11801081
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.037001

Abstract

Peaks in the magnetoresistivity of the layered superconductor kappa - (BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)(2), measured in fields < or =45 T applied within the layers, show that the Fermi surface is extended in the interlayer direction and enable the interlayer transfer integral (t( perpendicular) approximately 0.04 meV) to be deduced. However, the quasiparticle scattering rate tau(-1) is such that Planck's over 2pi/tau approximately 6t( perpendicular), implying that kappa - (BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)(2) meets the criterion used to identify interlayer incoherence. The applicability of this criterion to anisotropic materials is thus shown to be questionable.