Effect of umklapp scattering on the magnetic-field-induced spin-density waves in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors

We study the effect of umklapp scattering on the magnetic-field-induced spin-density-wave (FISDW) phases which are experimentally observed in the quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors of the Bechgaard salts family. Within the framework of the quantized nesting model, we show that the transition temperature is determined by a modified Stoner criterion which includes the effect of umklapp scattering. We determine the SDW polarization (linear or circular) by analyzing the Ginzburg-Landau expansion of the free energy. We also study how umklapp processes modify the quantum Hall effect (QHE) and the spectrum of the FISDW phases. We find that umklapp scattering stabilizes phases which exhibit a sign reversal of the QHE, as experimentally observed in the Bechgaard salts. These “negative” phases are characterized by the simultaneous existence of two SDW’s with comparable amplitudes. As the umklapp scattering strength increases, they may become helicoidal (circularly polarized SDW’s). The QHE vanishes in the helicoidal phases, but a magnetoelectric effect appears. These two characteristic properties may be utilized to detect the magnetic-field-induced helicoidal SDW phases experimentally.