Spin-zero anomaly in the magnetic quantum oscillations of a two-dimensional metal

We report on an anomalous behavior of the spin-splitting zeros in the de Haas–van Alphen (dHvA) signal of a quasi-two-dimensional organic superconductor. The zeros as well as the angular dependence of the amplitude of the second harmonic deviate remarkably from the standard Lifshitz–Kosevich (LK) prediction. In contrast, the angular dependence of the fundamental dHvA amplitude as well as the spin-splitting zeros of the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) signal follow the LK theory. We can explain this behavior of the dHvA signal by small chemical-potential (CP) oscillations and find a very good agreement between theory and experiment. A detailed wave-shape analysis of the dHvA oscillations corroborates the existence of an oscillating CP. We discuss the absence of the above spin-zero effect in the SdH signal and argue that in k-(BEDT-TTF)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃ it can be explained by an incoherent variable range hopping interlayer transport which is insensitive to the small CP oscillations.