Classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets with uniaxial exchange anisotropy and a cubic anisotropy term in a field on simple cubic lattices are studied with the help of ground state considerations and extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Especially, we analyze the role of non-collinear structures of biconical type occurring in addition to the well-known antiferromagnetic and spin-flop structures. Pertinent phase diagrams are determined, and compared to previous findings.
Classical uniaxially anisotropic Heisenberg and XY antiferromagnets in a field along the easy axis on a square lattice are analysed, applying ground state considerations and Monte Carlo techniques. The models are known to display antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases. In the Heisenberg case, a single-ion anisotropy is added to the XXZ antiferromagnet, enhancing or competing with the uniaxial exchange anisotropy. Its effect on the stability of non-collinear structures of biconical type is studied. In the case of the anisotropic XY antiferromagnet, the transition region between the antiferromag…
Uniaxially anisotropic antiferromagnets in a field along the easy axis are studied with the help of ground state considerations and Monte Carlo simulations. For classical models, the XXZ model as well as variants, we analyze the role of non-collinear spin configurations of biconical or bidirectional type interpolating between the well-known antiferromagnetic and spin-flop structures. Possible experimental applications to layered cuprate antiferromagnets are discussed. Finally, results of quantum Monte Carlo simulations for the S=1/2 XXZ model on a square lattice are presented, and compared wit…
Using density matrix renormalization group calculations, ground state properties of the spin-1 Heisenberg chain with exchange and quadratic single-ion anisotropies in an external field are studied, for special choices of the two kinds of anisotropies. In particular, the phase diagram includes antiferromagnetic, spin-liquid (or spin-flop), (10), and supersolid (or biconical) phases. Especially, new features of the spin-liquid and supersolid phases are discussed. Properties of the quantum chains are compared to those of corresponding classical spin chains.
We study classical Heisenberg antiferromagnets with uniaxial exchange anisotropy and a cubic anisotropy term on simple cubic lattices in an external magnetic field using ground state considerations and extensive Monte Carlo simulations. In addition to the antiferromagnetic phase field--induced spin--flop and non--collinear, biconical phases may occur. Phase diagrams and critical as well as multicritical phenomena are discussed. Results are compared to previous findings.
One dimensional S=1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains with bond alternation and uniaxial single-ion-type anisotropy are studied by numerical exact diagonalization of finite size systems. We calculate the ground state phase diagram using the twisted boundary condition method for $D\geq 0$. The ground states of this model contain the Haldane state, large-D state and the dimer state. Using conformal field theory and the level spectroscopy method, we calculate the D and $δ$-dependence of the Luttinger liquid paraments K and the critical exponent $ν$ of the energy gap.
The ground-state phase diagram of a frustrated S=1 Heisenberg spin chain with uniaxial single-ion-type anisotropy is studied using the infinite-system density-matrix renormalization-group method. Particular attention is paid to "chiral" phases, in which the long-range order parameter is a vector chirality. It is found that, in addition to the Haldane, large-D (LD), and double-Haldane phases, the phase diagram includes three different chiral phases, i.e., the gapless chiral, chiral-Haldane, and chiral-LD phases. These chiral phases are distinguished from each other by the energy gap and the str…
The generalized Fisher super-exchange antiferromagnetic model with uniaxial crystal-field anisotropy is exactly investigated using an extended mapping technique. An exact relation between partition function of the studied system and that one of the standard zero-field spin-1/2 Ising model on the corresponding lattice is obtained applying the decoration-iteration transformation. Consequently, exact results for all physical quantities are derived for arbitrary spin values S of decorating atoms. Particular attention is paid to the investigation of the effect of crystal-field anisotropy and extern…
The mixed spin-1/2 and spin-1 Ising model on the Bethe lattice with both uniaxial as well as biaxial single-ion anisotropy terms is exactly solved by combining star-triangle and triangle-star mapping transformations with exact recursion relations. Magnetic properties (magnetization, phase diagrams and compensation phenomenon) are investigated in detail. The particular attention is focused on the effect of uniaxial and biaxial single-ion anisotropies that basically influence the magnetic behavior of the spin-1 atoms.
We investigate the $S=2$ antiferromagnetic quantum spin chain with the exchange and single-ion anisotropies in a magnetic field, using the numerical exact diagonalization of finite-size clusters and the level spectroscopy analysis. It is found that a magnetization plateau possibly appears at a half of the saturation magnetization for some suitable anisotropy parameters. The level spectroscopy analysis indicates that the 1/2 magnetization plateau is formed by two different mechanisms, depending on the anisotropy parameters. The phase diagram of the 1/2 plateau states and some typical magnetizat…
Using density matrix renormalization group calculations, ground state properties of the spin-1 Heisenberg chain with exchange and single-ion anisotropies in an external field are studied. Our findings confirm and refine recent results by Sengupta and Batista, Physical Review Letters 99, 217205 (2007) (2007), on the same model applying Monte Carlo techniques. In particular, we present evidence for two types of biconical (or supersolid) and for two types of spin-flop (or superfluid) structures. Basic features of the quantum phase diagram may be interpreted qualitatively in the framework of class…
Magnetic nanoparticles with Neel surface anisotropy, different internal structures, surface arrangements and elongation are modelled as many-spin systems. The results suggest that the energy of many-spin nanoparticles cut from cubic lattices can be represented by an effective one-spin potential containing uniaxial and cubic anisotropies. It is shown that the values and signs of the corresponding constants depend strongly on the particle's surface arrangement, internal structure and elongation. Particles cut from a simple cubic lattice have the opposite sign of the effective cubic term, as comp…
The roughening phase diagram of the d=3 Ising model with uniaxially anisotropic interactions is calculated for the entire range of anisotropy, from decoupled planes to the isotropic model to the solid-on-solid model, using hard-spin mean-field theory. The phase diagram contains the line of ordering phase transitions and, at lower temperatures, the line of roughening phase transitions, where the interface between ordered domains roughens. Upon increasing the anisotropy, roughening transition temperatures settle after the isotropic case, whereas the ordering transition temperature increases to i…
The classical spin-flop is the field-driven first-order reorientation transition in easy-axis antiferromagnets. A comprehensive phenomenological theory of easy-axis antiferromagnets displaying spin-flops is developed. It is shown how the hierarchy of magnetic coupling strengths in these antiferromagnets causes a strongly pronounced two-scale character in their magnetic phase structure. In contrast to the major part of the magnetic phase diagram, these antiferromagnets near the spin-flop region are described by an effective model akin to uniaxial ferromagnets. For a consistent theoretical descr…
The paradigm of spontaneous symmetry breaking encompasses the breaking of the rotational symmetries $O(3)$ of isotropic space to a discrete subgroup, i.e. a three-dimensional point group. The subgroups form a rich hierarchy and allow for many different phases of matter with orientational order. Such spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs in nematic liquid crystals and a highlight of such anisotropic liquids are the uniaxial and biaxial nematics. Generalizing the familiar uniaxial and biaxial nematics to phases characterized by an arbitrary point group symmetry, referred to as \emph{generalized n…
We studied the transition between the antiferromagnetic and the surface spin-flop phases of a uniaxial antiferromagnetic [Fe(14 Å)/Cr(11 Å]$_{\rm x20}$ superlattice. For external fields applied parallel to the in-plane easy axis, the layer-by-layer configuration, calculated in the framework of a mean-field one-dimensional model, was benchmarked against published polarized neutron reflectivity data. For an in-plane field $H$ applied at an angle $ψ\ne 0$ with the easy axis, magnetometry shows that the magnetization $M$ vanishes at H=0, then increases slowly with increasing $H$. At a critical val…
Magnetic properties of a mixed spin-1/2 and spin-1 Ising model on honeycomb lattice are exactly investigated within the framework of generalized star-triangle mapping transformation. The particular attention is focused on the effect of uniaxial and biaxial crystal-field anisotropies that basically influence the magnetic behaviour of the spin-1 atoms. Our results for the basic thermodynamic quantities, as well as the dynamical time-dependent autocorrelation function indicate the spin tunneling between the $| +1>$ and $| - 1>$ states in the magnetically ordered phase.
The classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet with uniaxial exchange anisotropy, the XXZ model, and competing planar single-ion anisotropy in a magnetic field on a simple cubic lattice is studied with the help of extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The biconical (supersolid) phase, bordering the antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases, is found to become thermally unstable well below the onset of the disordered, paramagnetic phase, leading to interesting multicritical points.
The influence of uniaxial single-ion anisotropy -DSz^2 on the magnetic and thermal properties of Heisenberg antiferromagnets (AFMs) is investigated. The uniaxial anisotropy is treated exactly and the Heisenberg interactions are treated within unified molecular field theory (MFT) [Phys. Rev. B 91, 064427 (1915)], where thermodynamic variables are expressed in terms of directly measurable parameters. The properties of collinear AFMs with ordering along the z axis (D > 0) in applied fields Hz = 0 are calculated versus D and temperature T. The high-field average magnetization per spin muz(Hz,D,T) …
Using $\rm Er_2Ti_2O_7$ as a motivation, we investigate finite-field properties of $XY$ pyrochlore antiferromagnets. In addition to a fluctuation-induced six-fold anisotropy present in zero field, an external magnetic field induces a combination of two-, three-, and six-fold clock terms as a function of its orientation providing for a rich and controllable magnetothermodynamics. For $\rm Er_2Ti_2O_7$, we predict a new phase transition for ${\bf H}\parallel [001]$. Re-entrant transitions are also found for ${\bf H}\parallel [111]$. We extend these results to the whole family the $XY$ pyrochlore…
Motivated by the recent experiment on kagome-lattice antiferromagnets, we study the zero-field ordering behavior of the antiferromagnetic classical Heisenberg model on a uniaxially distorted kagome lattice by Monte Carlo simulations. A first-order transition, which has no counterpart in the corresponding undistorted model, takes place at a very low temperature. Origin of the transition is ascribed to a cooperative proliferation of topological excitations inherent to the model.
We compare transverse and parallel static susceptibilities of in-plane uniaxial anisotropic ferromagnetic Heisenberg films calculated in the framework of many-body Green's function theory using single-ion anisotropies with the previously investigated case of exchange anisotropies. On the basis of the calculated observables (easy and hard axes magnetizations and susceptibilities) no significant differences are found, i. e. it is not possible to propose an experiment that might decide which kind of anisotropy is acting in an actual ferromagnetic film.
The behaviour of ferromagnetic systems with single-ion anisotropies in more than one direction is investigated with many-body Green's function theory generalizing earlier work with uniaxial anisotropies only. It turns out to be of advantage to construct Green's functions in terms of the spin operators S^x, S^y and S^z, instead of the commonly used S^+,S^- and S^z operators. The exchange energy terms are decoupled by RPA and the single-ion anisotropy terms by a generalization of the Anderson-Callen decoupling. We stress that in the derivation of the formalism none of the three spatial axes is s…
The classical, square lattice, uniaxially anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a magnetic field parallel to the easy axis is studied using Monte Carlo techniques. The model displays a long-range ordered antiferromagnetic, an algebraically ordered spin-flop, and a paramagnetic phase. The simulations indicate that a narrow disordered phase intervenes between the ordered phases down to quite low temperatures. Results are compared to previous, partially conflicting findings on related classical models as well as the quantum variant with spin S=1/2.
The classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet with uniaxial exchange anisotropy, the XXZ model, in a magnetic field on a simple cubic lattice is studied with the help of extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Analyzing, especially, various staggered susceptibilities and Binder cumulants, we present clear evidence for the meeting point of the antiferromagnetic, spin--flop, and paramagnetic phases being a bicritical point with Heisenberg symmetry. Results are compared to previous predictions based on various theoretical approaches.
The phenomena of exchange anisotropy is well known in terms of static magnetization properties such as enhanced coercivity and magnetization loop shifts. These effects are primarily associated with effective anisotropies introduced into the ferromagnet by exchange coupling with a strongly anisotropic antiferromagnet. These effective anisotropies can be understood as manifestations of a more fundamental exchange induced susceptibility. We show that a consequence of this view is that a class of unusual dynamic effects associated with the exchange susceptibility should also exist. The effects bec…
Using a recently implemented integration method [Krech et. al.] based on an iterative second-order Suzuki-Trotter decomposition scheme, we have performed spin dynamics simulations to study the critical dynamics of the BCC Heisenberg antiferromagnet with uniaxial anisotropy. This technique allowed us to probe the narrow asymptotic critical region of the model and estimate the dynamic critical exponent $z=2.25 \pm 0.08$. Comparisons with competing theories and experimental results are presented.
We consider the possibility that the discrete long-range ordered states of Er2Ti2O7 are selected energetically at the mean field level as an alternative scenario that suggests selection via thermal fluctuations. We show that nearest neighbour exchange interactions alone are not sufficient for this purpose, but that anisotropies arising from excited single ion crystal field states in Er2Ti2O7, together with appropriate anisotropic exchange interactions, can produce the required long range order. However, the effect of the single ion anisotropies is rather weak so we expect thermal or quantum fl…
The classical and the quantum, spin $S=1/2, versions of the uniaxially anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice in a field parallel to the easy axis are studied using Monte Carlo techniques. For the classical version, attention is drawn to biconical structures and fluctuations at low temperatures in the transition region between the antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases. For the quantum version, the previously proposed scenario of a first-order transition between the antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases with a critical endpoint and a tricritical point is scrutinized.
The temperature dependence of the correlation length, susceptibilities and the magnetic structure factor of the two-dimensional spin-1 square lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet are computed by the quantum Monte Carlo loop algorithm (QMC). In the experimentally relevant temperature regime the theoretically predicted asymptotic low temperature behavior is found to be not valid. The QMC results however, agree reasonably well with the experimental measurements of La2NiO4 even without considering anisotropies in the exchange interactions.
Three-dimensional (3D) antiferromagnets with random magnetic anisotropy (RMA) experimentally studied to date do not have random single-ion anisotropies, but rather have competing two-dimensional and three-dimensional exchange interactions which can obscure the authentic effects of RMA. The magnetic phase diagram Fe$_{x}$Ni$_{1-x}$F$_{2}$ epitaxial thin films with true random single-ion anisotropy was deduced from magnetometry and neutron scattering measurements and analyzed using mean field theory. Regions with uniaxial, oblique and easy plane anisotropies were identified. A RMA-induced glass …
Square lattice Heisenberg and XY antiferromagnets with uniaxial anisotropy in a field along the easy axis are studied. Based on ground state considerations and Monte Carlo simulations, the role of biconical structures in the transition region between the antiferromagnetic and spin--flop phases is analyzed. In particular, adding a single--ion anisotropy to the XXZ antiferromagnet, one observes, depending on the sign of that anisotropy, either an intervening biconical phase or a direct transition of first order separating the two phases. In case of the anisotropic XY model, the degeneracy of the…
We study the phase diagram and multicritical behavior of anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnets on a square lattice in the presence of a magnetic field along the easy axis. We argue that, beside the Ising and XY critical lines, the phase diagram presents a first-order spin-flop line starting from T=0, as in the three-dimensional case. By using field theory we show that the multicritical point where these transition lines meet cannot be O(3) symmetric and occurs at finite temperature. We also predict how the critical temperature of the transition lines varies with the magnetic field and the un…
We study systems of classical magnetic dipoles on simple cubic lattices with dipolar and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions. By analysis and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, we find how the antiferromagnetic phases vary with uniaxial and fourfold anisotropy constants, C and D, as well as with exchange strength J. We pay special attention to the spin reorientation (SR) phase, and exhibit in detail the nature of its broken symmetries. By mean field theory and by MC, we also obtain the ratio of the higher ordering temperature to the SR transition temperature, and show that it depends mainly on …
We study the finite-temperature behaviour of two-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnets with very weak easy-axis and easy-plane exchange anisotropies. By means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations, based on the continuous-time loop and worm algorithm, we obtain a rich set of data that allows us to draw conclusions about both the existence and the type of finite-temperature transition expected in the considered models. We observe that the essential features of the Ising universality class, as well as those of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) one, are preserved even for anisotropie…
The thermal order by disorder effect in magnetic field is studied for a classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice. Using analytical arguments we predict a unique H-T phase diagram for this strongly frustrated magnet: states with a coplanar and a uniaxial triatic order parameters respectively at low and high magnetic fields and an incompressible collinear spin-liquid state at a one-third of the saturation field. We also present the Monte Carlo data which confirm existence of these phases.
We investigate the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on a rectangular lattice, using the Gutzwiller projected variational wave function known as the staggered flux state. Using Monte Carlo techniques, the variational parameters and static spin-structure factor for different coupling anisotropies $γ=J_y/J_x$ are calculated. We observe a gradual evolution of the ground state energy towards a value which is very close to the 1D estimate provided by the Bethe ansatz and a good agreement between the finite size scaling of the energies. The spin-spin correlation functions exhibit a power-law decay with vary…
Analytical solution has been found for the second-order effective anisotropy of magnetic nanoparticles of a cubic shape due to the surface anisotropy (SA) of the Néel type. Similarly to the spherical particles, for the simple cubic lattice the grand-diagonal directions $\left(\pm1,\pm1,\pm1\right)$ are favored by the effective cubic anisotropy but the effect is twice as strong. Uniaxial core anisotropy and applied magnetic field cause screening of perturbations from the surface at the distance of the domain-wall width and reduce the effect of SA near the energy minima. However, screening disap…
We study the effect of spin anisotropies on a frustrated quantum antiferromagnet using the J_1-J_2^{XXZ} model on the square lattice. The T=0 and finite-T phase diagrams of this model are obtained utilizing spin-wave theory, exact diagonalization, and quantum Monte Carlo. We find that anisotropic frustration tends to stabilize XY- and Ising-like ordered phases, while the disordered spin-liquid phase is restricted to a small region of the phase diagram. The ordered phases are separated by first-order transitions and exhibit a non-trivial reentrance phenomenon.
