We report inter-plane (Rzz) electrical transport measurements in the \tp series of organic conductors at very high magnetic fields. In the field range between 36 and 60 T Rzz shows a very hysteretic first order phase transition from metallic to an insulating state. This transition does not affect the Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations associated with the two-dimensional (2D) Fermi surface. We argue that this transition originates from inter-plane disorder which gives rise to incoherent transport along the least conducting axis. We conclude that this system becomes a strictly 2D Fermi-liquid at high magnetic fields.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0204350,
title = {Disorder-driven magnetic field-dependent phases in an organic conductor},
author = {K. Storr and D. Graf and J. S. Brooks and L. Balicas and C. Mielke and G. C. Papavassiliou},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0204350},
year = {2007}
}