We present a brief survey of the recent theoretical work related to generic Heisenberg spin models describing quasi-one-dimensional quantum ferrimagnets. The emphasis is on quantum chains and ladders with strong competing interactions, such as the frustrated $J_1-J_2$ chain with alternating (1,1/2) spins, the spin-1/2 diamond chain with four-spin cyclic couplings, and some generic types of mixed-spin ladders with geometric frustration. As a rule, discussed models exhibit rich quantum phase diagrams and provide some interesting examples of one-dimensional magnetic-paramagnetic quantum phase transitions. A number of open problems in the reviewed research area are discussed.
TbMn6Sn6 is a metallic ferrimagnet displaying signatures of both topological electrons and topological magnons arising from ferromagnetism and spin-orbit coupling within its Mn kagome layers. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements find strong ferromagnetic (FM) interactions within the Mn kagome layer and reveal a magnetic bandwidth of ~230 meV. The low-energy magnetic excitations are characterized by strong FM Mn-Mn and antiferromagnetic (AFM) Mn-Tb interlayer magnetic couplings. We observe weaker, competing long-range FM and AFM Mn-Mn interlayer interactions similar to those driving helica…
We present a microscopic theory of carrier-induced ferrimagnetism in metallic double perovskite compounds such as ${\rm Sr}_{2}{\rm FeMoO}_{6}$ and ${\rm Sr}_{2}{\rm FeReO}_{6}$ which have recently attracted intense interest for their possible applications to magnetotransport devices. The theory is based on an effective "Kondo-like" Hamiltonian treated here within the large-$S$ expansion. We find that depending on the value of the carrier density the ground state is either a ferrimagnet or a layered antiferromagnet. The ferrimagnetic state has a robust half-metallic electronic structure. The t…
We present an exact diagonalization study of the half-filled Hubbard model on bipartite quasi-one-dimensional lattices. In particular, we emphasize the dependence of the ferrimagnetic ground state properties, and its associated magnetic excitations, on the Coulomb repulsion U.
We study the ground-state properties of the S=1/2 Heisenberg models on the quasi-onedimensional kagome strip lattices by the exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods. The models with two different strip widths share the same lattice structure in their inner part with the spatially anisotropic two-dimensional kagome lattice. When there is no magnetic frustration, the well-known Lieb-Mattis ferrimagnetic state is realized in both models. When the strength of magnetic frustration is increased, on the other hand, the Lieb-Mattis-type ferrimagnetism is collapsed. We fi…
The density of non-quasiparticle states in the ferrimagnetic full-Heuslers Mn$_2$VAl alloy is calculated from first principles upon appropriate inclusion of correlations. In contrast to most half-metallic compounds, this material displays an energy gap in the majority-spin spectrum. For this situation, non-quasiparticle states are located below the Fermi level, and should be detectable by spin-polarized photoemission. This opens a new way to study many-body effects in spintronic-related materials.
In a nanographene ring with zigzag edges, the spin-polarized state and the charge-polarized state are stabilized by the on-site and the nearest neighbor Coulomb repulsions, U and V, respectively, within the extended Hubbard model under the mean field approximation. In a Moebius strip of the nanographene with a zigzag edge, U stabilizes two magnetic states, the domain wall state and the helical state. Both states have ferrimagnetic spins localized along the zigzag edge while the former connects the opposite ferrimagnetic orders resulting in a magnetic frustration forced by the topology and the …
Within the Dyson-Maleev boson formalism, we study the zero-temperature magnon dispersions in a family of one-dimensional quantum Heisenberg ferrimagnets composed of two different spins $(S_1,S_2)$ in the elementary cell. It is shown that the spin-wave theory can produce precise quantitative results for the low-energy excitations. The spin-stiffness constant $ρ_s$ and the optical magnon gap $Δ$ of different $(S_1,S_2)$ ferrimagnetic systems are calculated, respectively, to second and third order in the quasiparticle interaction. The spin-wave results are compared with available numerical estima…
We provide evidence of a superfluid-insulator transition (SIT) of magnons in a quasi-one-dimensional quantum ferrimagnet with {\it isotropic} competing antiferromagnetic spin interactions. This SIT occurs between two distinct ferrimagnetic phases due to the frustration-induced closing of the gap to a magnon excitation. It thus causes a coherent superposition of singlet and triplet states at lattice unit cells and a power-law decay on the staggered spin correlation function along the transverse direction to the spontaneous magnetization. A hard-core boson map suggests that asymptotically close …
We study ground-state properties and the low-lying excitations of Heisenberg spin ladders composed of two ferrimagnetic chains with alternating site spins $(S_1>S_2)$ by using the bosonic Dyson-Maleev formalism and Lanczos numerical techniques. The emphasis is on properties of the ferrimagnetic phase which is stable for antiferromagnetic interchain couplings $J_{\perp}\geq 0$. There are two basic implications of the underlying lattice structure: (i) the spin-wave excitations form folded acoustic and optical branches in the extended Brillouin zone and (ii) the ground state parameters (such as t…
We have studied magnetodielectric and spin-lattice coupling in CoNb$_{2}$O$_{6}$ single crystals. Magnetostriction and magnetodielectric experiments are performed at temperatures in and above antifferomagnetic phase of quasi 1D Ising spin chain CoNb$_{2}$O$_{6}$. Field induced magnetic transitions are clearly reflected in magnetodielectric measurement as well as magnetostriction measurement also. Two sharp anomalies are found around the critical fields of antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic transition and ferrimagnetic to saturated paramagnetic transition in both magnetodielectric and magnetost…
We develop a theory of spontaneously magnetized Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (SMTLL) in geometrically frustrated quasi-one-dimensional quantum magnets by taking an $S=1/2$ ferrimagnet on a union-jack lattice as an example. We show that a strong frustration leads to a spontaneous magnetization because of the ferrimagnetic nature of lattice. Due to the ferrimagnetic order, the local magnetization has an incommensurate oscillation with the position. We show that the spontaneously magnetized TLL is smoothly connected to the existence of a Nambu-Goldstone boson in the canted ferrimagnetic phase of a t…
We present the ground state phase diagram of $q = 1/2$ quantum-rotor chains with competing interactions (frustration) calculated through cluster variational mean field approaches. We consider two interaction patterns, named F$_1$ and F$_2$ models, between the quantum-rotor momentum and position operators, which follow exchange patterns of known one-dimensional spin-1/2 systems with a ferrimagnetic state in their phase diagrams. The spin-1/2 F$_1$ model is known as the diamond chain and is related to the azurite compound, while the spin-1/2 F$_2$ model was recently shown to present a frustratio…
The semiconductor Sr2FeOsO6, depending on temperature, adopts two types of spin structures that differ in the spin sequence of ferrimagnetic iron - osmium layers along the tetragonal c-axis. Neutron powder diffraction experiments, 57Fe Mössbauer spectra, and density-functional theory calculations suggest that this behavior arises because a lattice instability resulting in alternating iron-osmium distances fine-tunes the balance of competing exchange interactions. Thus, Sr2FeOsO6 is an example for a double perovskite, in which the electronic phases are controlled by the interplay of spin, orbit…
Using ab initio calculations based on the correlated band theory, we have investigated the quasi-one-dimensional chain system $β$-V$_2$O(PO$_4$), showing both charge and spin orderings. Even in the uncorrelated region, the pure transition from the tetragonal to the monoclinic structure leads to a sizable charge difference between the two types of V ions, regardless of magnetic orders. In the ferrimagnetic phase, inclusion of the on-site Coulomb repulsion $U$ leads to a full orbital-polarization of V1 ($t_{2g}^{3\uparrow}$, $S=\frac{3}{2}$) and V2 ($a_{1g}^{1\downarrow}e_g^{\prime{1\downarrow}}…
We study a two-dimensional (2D) spin-half Heisenberg model related to the quasi 2D antiferromagnets (Ba,Sr)2Cu3O4Cl2 by means of exact diagonalization and spin-wave theory. The model consists of two inequivalent interpenetrating square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnets A and B. While the antiferromagnetic interaction JAA within the A subsystem is strong the coupling JBB within the B subsystem is much weaker. The coupling JAB between A and B subsystems is competing giving rise for interesting frustration effects. In dependence of the strength of JAB we find a collinear Neel phase, non-colline…
The ground state (GS) properties of the quasi-one-dimensional $AB_2$ Hubbard model are investigated taking the effects of charge and spin quantum fluctuations on equal footing. In the strong-coupling regime, we derive a low-energy Lagrangian suitable to describe the ferrimagnetic phase at half filling and the phases in the hole-doped regime. At half filling, a perturbative spin-wave analysis allows us to find the GS energy, sublattice magnetizations, and Lieb total spin per unit cell of the effective quantum Heisenberg model, in very good agreement with previous results. In the challenging hol…
Rb-NMR study has been performed on the quasi-one dimensional competing spin chain Rb2Cu2Mo3O12 with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions on nearest neighboring and next nearest neighboring spins, respectively. The system changes from a gapped ground state at zero field to the gapless state at H_C \simeq 2 T, where the existence of magnetic order below 1 K was demonstrated by a broadening of NMR spectrum, associated with a critical divergence of 1/T_1. In higher temperature region, 1/T_1 showed a power-law type temperature dependence, from which the field dependence of Lutt…
We have considered and alternating Heisenberg spin chain with nearest-neighbor ($J_1$), next-nearest neighbor ($J_2$) antiferromagnetic couplings along with z-component of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya(DM) ($D_z$) interactions. The Hamiltonian has been studied using (a) Linear Spin-Wave Theory(LSWT) and (b) Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG). The system had been reported earlier as a classical ferrimagnet only when nearest neighbor exchange interactions are present. Both the antiferromagnetic next-nearest neighbor interactions and DM interactions introduce strong quantum fluctuations and …
Structural behaviour of PbMn$_{7}$O$_{12}$ has been studied by high resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. This material belongs to a family of quadruple perovskite manganites that exhibit an incommensurate structural modulation associated with an orbital density wave. It has been found that the structural modulation in PbMn$_{7}$O$_{12}$ onsets at 294 K with the incommensurate propagation vector $\mathbf{k}_s=(0,0,\sim2.08)$. At 110 K another structural transition takes place where the propagation vector suddenly drops down to a \emph{quasi}-commensurate value $\mathbf{k}_s=(0,0,2.0…
We present a detailed analysis of the phase diagram of antiferromagnets with competing exchange-driven and field-induced order parameters. By using the quasi-1D antiferromagnet BaCu_2Si_2O_7 as a test case, we demonstrate that a model based on a Ginzburg-Landau type of approach provides an adequate description of both the magnetization process and of the phase diagram. The developed model not only accounts correctly for the observed spin-reorientation transitions, but it predicts also their unusual angular dependence.
Frustrated systems exhibit remarkable properties due to the high degeneracy of their ground states. Stabilised by competing interactions, a rich diversity of typically nanometre-sized phase structures appear in polymer and colloidal systems, while the surface of ice pre-melts due to geometrically frustrated interactions. Atomic spin systems where magnetic interactions are frustrated by lattice geometry provide a fruitful source of emergent phenomena, such as fractionalised excitations analogous to magnetic monopoles. The degeneracy inherent in frustrated systems may prevail all the way down to…
We have investigated the temperature and magnetic field dependence of magnetization ($M$), specific heat ($C_p$), and relative sample length change ($ΔL/L_0$) for understanding the field-induced metamagnetic transitions in quasi-one-dimensional monoclinic ($α$ phase) and triclinic ($γ$ phase) CoV$_2$O$_6$ spin chains. With the application of external magnetic field, a sharp peak emerges in $C_p$($T$) below $T_N$$=$15 K in $α$ phase and a hump-like feature appears above $T_N$$=$6.5 K in $γ$ phase due to the field-induced ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic transitions, respectively. Strong field de…
We use the coupled cluster method (CCM) to study the zero-temperature ground-state (GS) properties of a spin-1/2 $J_{1}$--$J_{2}$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice with competing nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor exchange couplings $J_{1}>0$ and $J_{2} \equiv κJ_{1}>0$, respectively, in the window $0 \leq κ< 1$. The classical version of the model has a single GS phase transition at $κ^{cl}=$1/8 in this window from a phase with 3-sublattice antiferromagnetic (AFM) 120$^{\circ}$ Néel order for $κ< κ^{cl}$ to an infinitely degenerate family of 4-sublattice AFM Néel phase…
A number of examples have demonstrated the failure of the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson(LGW) paradigm in describing the competing phases and phase transitions of two dimensional quantum magnets. In this paper we argue that such magnets possess field theoretic descriptions in terms of their slow fluctuating orders provided certain topological terms are included in the action. These topological terms may thus be viewed as what goes wrong within the conventional LGW thinking. The field theoretic descriptions we develop are possible alternates to the popular gauge theories of such non-LGW behavior. Examp…
Finite-temperature phase transitions in quasi-one-dimensional quarter-filled systems are investigated by the extended Hubbard model with electron-lattice coupling. Using a quantum Monte Carlo method combined with the inter-chain mean-field approximation, we clarify competing and coexisting behaviors among charge ordering, dimer Mott, and spin-Peierls states. It is pointed out that an anharmonicity of lattice distortions plays an important role in multi-critical behaviors. The results are compared with experimental data for quasi-one-dimensional molecular conductors such as DCNQI and TMTTF comp…
We have investigated the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of antiferromagnetic Ising spin chain CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ by magnetization and heat capacity measurements. Both monoclinic $α$-CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ and triclinic $γ$-CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ exhibit field-induced metamagnetic transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic state via an intermediate ferrimagnetic state with 1/3 magnetization plateau. Due to this field-induced metamagnetic transition, these systems show large conventional as well as inverse magnetocaloric effects. In $α$-CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$, we observe field-induced complex magnet…
Feedback effects due to spin fluctuation induced precursors in the fermionic quasiparticle spectrum are taken into account in the description of a quantum critical point of itinerant spin systems. A correlation length dependent spin damping occurs, leading to a dynamical scaling with z\approx 1 which non-trivially competes with the conventional spin wave behavior. We obtain, within a one loop renormalization group approach, a quantitative explanation for the scaling behavior seen in underdoped cuprate superconductors.
Magnetization plateaus, spin-canted orders and field-induced transitions in a spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a distorted diamond-decorated honeycomb lattice
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University（帕日·沙法里克大学理学院物理研究所）
The Kondo lattice model describes a quantum phase transition between the antiferromagnetic state and heavy-fermion states. Applying the dual-fermion approach, we explore possible superconductivities emerging due to the critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations. The d-wave pairing is found to be the leading instability only in the weak-coupling regime. As the coupling is increased, we observe a change of the pairing symmetry into a p-wave spin-singlet pairing. The competing superconductivities are ascribed to crossover between small and large Fermi surfaces, which occurs with formation of heavy q…
We consider a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ kagome-like chain with competing ferro- and antiferromagnetic anisotropic exchange interactions. The ground state phase diagram of this model consists of the ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic phases. We study the ground state and the low-temperature properties on the phase boundary between these phases. The ground state on this phase boundary is macroscopically degenerate and consists of localized magnon states. We calculate the ground state degeneracy and corresponding residual entropy. The spontaneous magnetization has a jump on the phase boundary confirming th…
An accurate numerical consideration of 1D spinless fermion model with next-nearest neighbour (NNN) interactions is carried out for the electron concentrations 4/7. It is shown that depending on the parameters of the model it can be either Luttinger liquid or bipolaron liquid. In the former case competing interactions can result in a smooth behavior of one-electron distribution function at the Fermi surface with a divergence in the second derivative with respect to the quasimomentum (and not in the first one, as usual). In this connection, uncommon photoemission spectra for some 1D conductors c…
We consider the problem of two coupled Luttinger liquids both at half filling and at low doping levels, to investigate the problem of competing orders in quasi-one-dimensional strongly correlated systems. We use bosonization and renormalization group equations to investigate the phase diagrams, to determine the allowed phases and to establish approximate boundaries among them. Because of the chiral translation and reflection symmetry in the charge mode away from half filling, orders of charge density wave (CDW) and spin-Peierls (SP) diagonal current (DC) and $d$-density wave (DDW) form two dou…
We study the impact of the diagonal frustrating couplings on the quantum phase diagram of a two-leg ladder composed of alternating spin-1 and spin-1/2 rungs. As the coupling strength is increased the system successively exhibits two gapped paramagnetic phases (a rung-singlet and a Haldane-like non-degenerate states) and two ferrimagnetic phases with different ferromagnetic moments per rung. The first two states are similar to the phases studied in the frustrated spin-1/2 ladder, whereas the magnetic phases appear as a result of the mixed-spin structure of the model. A detailed characterization…
We use neutron scattering to demonstrate that electron-doped superconducting Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4 in the underdoped regime is electronically phase separated in the ground state, showing the coexistence of a superconducting phase with a three-dimensional antiferromagnetically ordered phase and a quasi-two-dimensional spin density wave modulation. The Neel temperature of both antiferromagnetic phases decreases linearly with increasing superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and vanishes when optimal superconductivity is achieved. These results indicate that the electron-doped copper oxides are…
The occurrence of high-T_c superconductivity in systems including the cuprates and the iron-based superconductors, is known to coincide with the existence of anomalous normal-state properties which have been associated with quantum criticality. We argue here that this observation results from the fact that quantum criticality can allow the occurrence of very-strong-coupling superconductivity by preventing its suppression due to competing symmetry-breaking instabilities. Treating the electrons through a large-U ansatz yields their separation into boson quasiparticles which are directly involved…
We study the thermodynamics of the delta-chain with competing ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions in an external magnetic field which generalizes the field-free case studied previously. This model plays an important role for the recently synthesized compound Fe$_{10}$Gd$_{10}$ which is nearly quantum critical. The classical version of the model is solved exactly and explicit analytical results for the low-temperature thermodynamics are obtained. The spin-$s$ quantum model is studied using exact diagonalization and finite-temperature Lanzos techniques. Particular attention is focused on t…
Strong electronic interactions and spin orbit coupling can be conducive for realizing novel broken symmetry phases supporting quasiparticles with nontrivial band topology. 227 pyrochlore iridates provide a suitable material platform for studying such emergent phenomena where both topology and competing orders play important roles. In contrast to the most members of this material class, which are thought to display "all-in all-out" (AIAO) type magnetically ordered low-temperature insulating ground states, Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ remains metallic while exhibiting "spin ice" (SI) correlations at low te…
