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 beta "-(BEDT-TTF)(2)SF5CH2CF2SO3 it can be explained by an incoherent variable range hopping interlayer transport which is insensitive to the small CP oscillations.