Hump Like Resistance Anomaly in Organic Conductor β''-(BEDT-TTF)2CsCd(SCN)4

Abstract

We investigate the low-temperature electronic phase of a two-dimensional organic conductor, β''-(BEDT-TTF) 2 CsCd(SCN) 4 [where BEDT-TTF denotes bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene], which has a large hump between 32 and around 5 K in the temperature dependence of the interlayer resistance. We present experimental results for the temperature dependence of the resistance under magnetic fields and its Kohler plots, and an x-ray diffraction study. We find that I) Kohler's rule is strongly violated below 32 K, although the rule is valid above 32 K, and II) weak superlattice spots appear at 15.6 K in the x-ray study. On the basis of the experimental results, we suggest that the origin of the resistance hump is the formation of a possible charge density wave transition at about 32 K by the nesting of a pair of large one-dimensional Fermi surfaces obtained in the electronic structure calculation based on the crystal structure at room temperature.