Superconductivity at ambient pressure in BEDT-TTF radical salts

Abstract

Crystals of (BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2 were prepared by several methods and the superconducting transitions investigated by resistivity and ac susceptibility measurements. Depending on the preparation of the crystals a variation of the temperature of the superconducting transition is observed. This variation is manifested in the upper critical fields Hc2 and proton NMR relaxation measurements at temperatures below Tc show it as well. The upper critical fields Hc2 of crystals of αt(BEDT-TTF)2I3 were determined in dependence of the temperature and of the direction of the magnetic field with respect to the various crystal axes by measuring the mid transition of the resistivity and of the rf penetration depth. The data are analyzed with the anisotropic effective mass model in the picture of the Ginsburg Landau (Gl) theory as well as in the picture of a layered superconductor. 13C Knight shifts measured by magic angle sample spinning and NMR cross polarisation methods support the picture of the layered superconductor.