We study the phase transition behavior of a frustrated Heisenberg model on a stacked triangular lattice by Monte Carlo simulations. The model has three types of interactions: the ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction $J_1$ and antiferromagnetic third nearest-neighbor interaction $J_3$ in each triangular layer and the ferromagnetic interlayer interaction $J_\perp$. Frustration comes from the intralayer interactions $J_1$ and $J_3$. We focus on the case that the order parameter space is SO(3)$\times C_3$. We find that the model exhibits a first-order phase transition with breaking of the SO(3) and $C_3$ symmetries at finite temperature. We also discover that the transition temperature increases but the latent heat decreases as $J_\perp/J_1$ increases, which is opposite to the behavior observed in typical unfrustrated three-dimensional systems.
The quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the stacked triangular lattice with the intralayer nearest-neighbor exchange interaction J and interlayer exchange J' is considered within the non-linear $σ$-model with the use of the renormalization group (RG) approach. For J' << J the asymptotic formula for the Neel temperature $T_{Neel}$ and sublattice magnetization are obtained. RG turns out to be insufficient to describe experimental data since it does not take into account the $\mathcal{Z}_2$-vortices. Therefore $T_{Neel}$ is estimated using the Monte-Carlo result for the 2D correlation length [1…
We study multilayer triangular lattice Ising antiferromagnets with interlayer interactions that are weak and frustrated in an abc stacking. By analysing a coupled height model description of these systems, we show that they exhibit a classical spin liquid regime at low temperature, in which both intralayer and interlayer correlations are strong but there is no long range order. Diffuse scattering in this regime is concentrated on a helix in reciprocal space, as observed for charge-ordering in the materials LuFe$_2$O$_4$ and YbFe$_2$O$_4$.
We study the spin stiffness of stacked triangular antiferromagnets using both heat bath and broad histogram Monte Carlo methods. Our results are consistent with a continuous transition belonging to the chiral universality class first proposed by Kawamura.
We show in this paper by using the Wang-Landau flat-histogram Monte Carlo method that the phase transition in the XY stacked triangular antiferromagnet is clearly of first-order, confirming results from latest Monte Carlo simulation and from a nonperturbative renormalization group, putting an end to a long-standing controversial issue.
We study the reductions of spin values of the ground state on a stacked triangular antiferromagnet using the spin-wave approach. We find that the spin reductions have sublattice asymmetry due to the cancellation of the molecular field. The sublattice asymmetry qualitatively analyzes the NMR results of CsCoBr$_3$.
By using the Wang-Landau flat-histogram Monte Carlo (MC) method for very large lattice sizes never simulated before, we show that the phase transition in the frustrated Heisenberg stacked triangular antiferromagnet is of first-order, contrary to results of earlier MC simulations using old-fashioned methods. Our result lends support to the conclusion of a nonperturbative renormalization group performed on an effective Hamiltonian. It puts an end to a 20-year long controversial issue.
We study Ising antiferromagnets that have nearest-neighbour interactions on multilayer triangular lattices with frustrated ($abc$ and $abab$) stacking, and make comparisons with the unfrustrated ($aaa$) stacking. If interlayer couplings are much weaker than in-plane ones, the paramagnetic phase of models with frustrated stackings has a classical spin-liquid regime at low temperature, in which correlations are strong both within and between planes, but there is no long-range order. We investigate this regime using Monte Carlo simulations and by mapping the spin models to coupled height models, …
An Ising antiferromagnet on a stacked triangular lattice in zero field is studied by Monte Carlo simulations, focusing on the character of the low-temperature phase and the effect of the relative strength of the exchange interaction in the stacking direction α. Our results support the presence of the 3D Wannier phase, with the sublattice magnetization structure (m, -m, 0) and power-law decaying m with the lattice size. The extent of this low-temperature phase shrinks with decreasing α, however, it appears even at very low values if it is accessed from higher temperatures by sufficiently slow c…
``Chirality'' is a multispin quantity representing the sense or the handedness of the noncollinear spin structures induced by spin frustration. Recent studies have revealed that the chirality often plays an important role in the ordering of certain frustrated magnets. Here I take up two such examples, stacked-triangular antiferromagnets and spin glasses, where the inherent chiral degree of freedom affects underlying physics and might lead to novel ordering phenomena. The first topic is the criticality of the magnetic phase transition of vector (i.e., XY or Heisenberg) antiferromagnets on the t…
We study a stacked triangular lattice Ising model with both intra- and inter-plane antiferromagnetic interactions in a field, by Monte Carlo simulation. We find only one phase transition from a paramagnetic to a partially disordered phase, which is of second order and 3D XY universality class. At low temperatures we identify two highly degenerate phases: at smaller (larger) fields the system shows long-range ordering in the stacking direction (within planes) but not in the planes (stacking direction). Nevertheless, crossovers to these phases do not have a character of conventional phase transi…
We study low-temperature magnetization processes in a stacked triangular Ising antiferromagnet by Monte Carlo simulations. In increasing and decreasing magnetic fields we observe multiple steps and hysteresis corresponding to formation of different metastable states. Besides the equidistant threefold splitting of the 1/3 ferrimagnetic plateau, we additionally confirm a fourth plateau in the field-increasing branch and a sizable remanence when the field is decreased to zero. The newly observed plateau only appears at sufficiently low temperature and sufficiently large exchange interaction in th…
The stacked triangular lattice has the shape of a triangular prism. In spite of being considered frequently in solid state physics and materials science, its percolation properties have received few attention. We investigate several non-universal percolation properties on this lattice using Monte Carlo simulation. We show that the percolation threshold is $p_c^\text{bond}=0.186\;02\pm0.000\;02$ for bonds and $p_c^\text{site}=0.262\;40\pm0.000\;05$ for sites. The number of clusters at the threshold per site is $n_c^\text{bond}=0.284\;58\pm0.000\;05$ and $n_c^\text{site}=0.039\;98\pm0.000\;05$. …
We study the ordered phases and the phase transitions in the stacked triangular antiferromagnetic Ising (STAFI) model with strong interplane coupling modeling CsCoCl$_3$ and CsCoBr$_3$. We find that there exists an intermediate phase which consists of a single phase of so-called partial disordered (PD) type, and confirm the stability of this phase. The low temperature phase of this model is so-called two-sublattice ferri magnetic phase. The phase transition between the PD phase and two-sublattice ferri magnetic phase is of the first order. This sequence of the phases is homomorphic as that in …
Effects of interlayer coupling and spatial anisotropy on spin-wave excitation spectra of a three-dimensional spatially anisotropic, frustrated spin-$\half$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HAFM) is investigated for the two ordered phases using second-order spin-wave expansion. We show that the second-order corrections to the spin-wave energies are significant and find that the energy spectra of the three-dimensional HAFM shares similar qualitative features with the energy spectra of the two-dimensional HAFM on a square lattice. We also discuss the features that can provide experimental measures for…
With the help of the improved Monte Carlo renormalization-group scheme, we numerically investigate the renormalization group flow of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and XY spin model on the stacked triangular lattice (STA-model) and its effective Hamiltonian, 2N-component chiral $ϕ^4$ model which is used in the field-theoretical studies. We find that the XY-STA model with the lattice size $126\times 144 \times 126$ exhibits clear first-order behavior. We also find that the renormalization-group flow of STA model is well reproduced by the chiral $ϕ^4$ model, and that there are no chiral fixed …
We study in this paper the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model in a thin film of stacked triangular lattices.The model is described by three parameters: bilinear exchange interaction between spins $J$, quadratic exchange interaction $K$ and single-ion anisotropy $D$. The spin $S\_i$ at the lattice site $i$ takes three values $(-1,0,+1)$.This model can describe the mixing phase of He-4 ($S\_i =+1,-1$) and He-3 ($S\_i =0$) at low temperatures.Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that there exists a critical value of $D$ below (above) which the transition is of second-(first-)order.In general, the temp…
We study the possibility of long-range ordering (LRO) in a 3D system of vertically stacked layers of Ising antiferromagnet on a kagome lattice (SIAKL). Monte Carlo simulations are carried out for a varying interlayer coupling strength and a finite-size scaling analysis is performed for selected cases. Unlike in the related Ising system on a triangular lattice, in which even a finite number of the layers can stabilize LRO, or the Heisenberg system on the same kagome lattice, in which LRO emerged in 3D for a sufficient strength of the interlayer coupling, no LRO could be observed in the present …
Magnetic phase diagram of a spatially anisotropic, frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a stacked square lattice is investigated using second-order spin-wave expansion. The effects of interlayer coupling and the spatial anisotropy on the magnetic ordering of two ordered ground states are explicitly studied. It is shown that with increase in next nearest neighbor frustration the second-order corrections play a significant role in stabilizing the magnetization. We obtain two ordered magnetic phases (Neel and stripe) separated by a paramagnetic disordered phase. Within second-order s…
We study the triangular lattice Ising model with a finite number of vertically stacked layers and demonstrate a low temperature reentrance of two Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, which results in an extended disordered regime down to $T=0$. Numerical results are complemented with the derivation of an effective low-temperature dimer theory. Contrary to order by disorder, we present a new scenario for fluctuation-induced ordering in frustrated spin systems. While short-range spin-spin correlations are enhanced by fluctuations, quasi-long-range ordering is precluded at low enough temp…
Using variational cluster approach, we study influence of frustration and dimensionality on magnetic properties in the ground state of Hubbard model on a stacked square lattice in the large $U$ region (U/t=10), by changing the next-nearest-neighbor hopping, $t^{\prime}$, and the interlayer hopping, $t_{\perp}$. For small $t_{\perp}<t^{\ast}_{\perp}$ with $t^{\ast}_{\perp}/t{\approx}0.44$, antiferromagnetic long-range order appears at small $t^{\prime}<t^{\prime}_{c_{1}}$, and collinear magnetic long-range order at large $t^{\prime}>t^{\prime}_{c_{2}}$. They are separated by a paramagnetic Mott…
Exact analyses are given for two three-dimensional lattice systems: A system of close-packed dimers placed in layers of honeycomb lattices and a layered triangular-lattice interacting domain wall model, both with nontrivial interlayer interactions. We show that both models are equivalent to a 5-vertex model on the square lattice with interlayer vertex-vertex interactions. Using the method of Bethe ansatz, a closed-form expression for the free energy is obtained and analyzed. We deduce the exact phase diagram and determine the nature of the phase transitions as a function of the strength of the…
