Microwave conductivity in polycrystalline (BEDT-TTF)2I3 material

Abstract

Polycrystalline material of the &#945;-phase of (BEDT-TTF)2I3 was compressed to small samples (4-mm x 1mm, thickness 0.3 mm typically) at a pressure of 10 kbar. Annealing at 70°C yields the superconducting &#945;t-phase. Microwaves (10,2 GHz) enable the measurements of the conductivity for stepwise annealing after every annealing step in always the same sample. For annealing times 10 min all conductivity versus temperature curves are intersecting in an isosbestlc point at 190 K. This behaviour can be described by a conductivity relation for a two component system, from which was determined the volume fraction of the new grown &#945;t-phase in dependence of the annealing time. Starting annealing (annealing times < 10 min) shows another unexpected phase transformation. After 2 min annealing the conductivity at 200 K increases by more than one order of magnitude, but then decreases of further annealing (5-10 min) down to the value for the unannealed sample.