| The particular class of organic conductors known as the Bechgaard salts exhibit a variety of highly anisotropic magnetic, thermal, and electrical phenomena. At low temperatures (below 10 kelvin), the application of a strong magnetic field establishes an effectively lower-dimensional anisotropic Fermi surface, as manifested in a variety of quasi one dimensional and quasi two dimensional thermodynamic and transport properties. Most dramatically, an increasing magnetic field--after suppression of superconductivity, induces a second order phase transition from a metallic to a spin density wave semimetal, followed by a series of first order phase transitions between density wave semimetallic states.;This thesis concerns the thermodynamic nature of the low temperature magnetic field induced phase transitions in the Bechgaard charge-transfer salt (TMTSF)2-Cl(O)4. Presented here are the first measurements of the specific heat in magnetic fields up to 30 tesla, as well as the design and construction of a small sample calorimeter capable of operating at dilution refrigerator temperatures in the challenging environment of the high field resistive Bitter magnets. From transport measurements, the existence of a magnetic field induced reentrance into the metallic state has previously been inferred. In this thesis, the unambiguous bulk thermodynamic character of the reentrance is calorimetrically demonstrated. The behavior of the electronic specific heat at the reentrant transition is shown to be consistent with magnetic field enhanced localization. Additionally, quantum oscillations in the high field semimetallic state and the presence of additional structure above the reentrant field are observed. Although these oscillations have also been observed in magnetoresistance and magnetization, the magnitude of the oscillations in the specific heat calls into question all known models for the physical origin of these oscillations. |
