Magnetization plateaus are some of the most striking manifestations of frustration in low-dimensional spin systems. We present numerical studies of magnetization plateaus in the fascinating spin-1/2 skewed ladder system obtained by alternately fusing five- and seven-membered rings. This system exhibits three significant plateaus at $m = 1/4$, $1/2$ and $3/4$, consistent with the Oshikawa-Yamanaka-Affleck condition. Our numerical as well as perturbative analysis shows that the ground state can be approximated by three weakly coupled singlet dimers and two free spins, in the absence of a magnetic field. With increasing applied magnetic field, the dimers progressively become triplets with large energy gaps to excited states, giving rise to stable magnetization plateaus. Finite-temperature studies show that $m=1/4$ and $1/2$ plateaus are robust and survive thermal fluctuations while the $m=3/4$ plateau shrinks rapidly due to thermal noise. The cusps at the ends of a plateau follow the algebraic square-root dependence on $B$.
We study the magnetization process of the $S=1$ Heisenberg model on a two-leg ladder with farther neighbor spin-exchange interaction. We consider the interaction that couples up to the next-nearest neighbor rungs and find an exactly solvable regime where the ground states become product states. The next-nearest neighbor interaction tends to stabilize magnetization plateaus at multiples of 1/6. In most of the exactly solvable regime, a single magnetization curve shows two series of plateaus with different periodicities.
The quantum phases of 2-leg spin-1/2 ladders with skewed rungs are obtained using exact diagonalization of systems with up to 26 spins and by density matrix renormalization group calculations to 500 spins. The ladders have isotropic antiferromagnetic (AF) exchange $J_2 > 0$ between first neighbors in the legs, variable isotropic AF exchange $J_1$ between some first neighbors in different legs, and an unpaired spin per odd-membered ring when $J_1 \gg J_2$. Ladders with skewed rungs and variable $J_1$ have frustrated AF interactions leading to multiple quantum phases: AF at small $J_1$, either F…
We study the quantum phase transitions of frustrated antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-1 systems on the 3/4 and 3/5 skewed two leg ladder geometries. These systems can be viewed as arising by periodically removing rung bonds from a zigzag ladder. We find that in large systems, the ground state (gs) of the 3/4 ladder switches from a singlet to a magnetic state for $J_1 \ge 1.82$; the gs spin corresponds to ferromagnetic alignment of effective $S = 2$ objects on each unit cell. The gs of antiferromagnetic exchange Heisenberg spin-1 system on a 3/5 skewed ladder is highly frustrated and has spira…
Using the density matrix renormalization group technique we investigate the low-energy properties and the magnetization plateau behavior in a 2-leg mixed spin ladder consisting of a spin-1/2 chain coupled with a spin-1 chain. The calculated results show that the system is in the same universality class as the spin-3/2 chain when the interchain coupling is strongly ferromagnetic, but the similarity between the two systems is less clear under other coupling conditions. We have identified two types of magnetization plateau phases. The calculation of the magnetization distribution on the spin-1/2 …
The quantum phases in a spin-1 skewed ladder system formed by alternately fusing five- and seven-membered rings are studied numerically using the exact diagonalization technique up to 16 spins and using the density matrix renormalization group method for larger system sizes. The ladder has a fixed isotropic antiferromagnetic (AF) exchange interaction ($J_2 = 1$) between the nearest-neighbor spins along the legs and a varying isotropic AF exchange interaction ($J_1$) along the rungs. As a function of $J_1$, the system shows many interesting ground states (gs) which vary from different types of …
Entanglement entropy (EE) of a state is a measure of correlation or entanglement between two parts of a composite system and it may show appreciable change when the ground state (GS) undergoes a qualitative change in a quantum phase transition (QPT). Therefore, the EE has been extensively used to characterise the QPT in various correlated Hamiltonians. Similarly fidelity also shows sharp changes at a QPT. We characterized the QPT of frustrated antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-1/2 systems on 3/4, 3/5 and 5/7 skewed ladders using the EE and fidelity analysis. It is noted that all the non-magnet…
The effect of a parallel magnetic field on superconducting two-leg ladders is investigated numerically. The magnetization curve displays an irrational plateau at a magnetization equal to the hole density. Remarkably, its stability is fundamentally connected to the existence of a well-known magnetic resonant mode. Once the zero-field spin gap is suppressed by the field, pairs acquire a finite momentum characteristic of a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phase. In addition, S^z=0 triplet superconducting correlations coexist with singlet ones above the irrational plateau. This provides a simple m…
The magnetic phase diagram of a plaquette dimerized antiferromagnetic system is studied by using a combination of numerical and analytical techniques. For the strongly frustrated regime, series expansions and bond operators techniques are employed to analyze zero magnetization plateau, whereas low energy effective models are used to study the complete magnetization process. The interplay between frustration and dimerization gives rise to a rich plateaus structure that is captured by effective models and corroborated by numerical density matrix renormalization group simulations, in particular t…
Magnetization plateaus and enhanced magnetocaloric effect of a spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg and Heisenberg double sawtooth ladder with four-spin interaction
We study the magnetisation process of the one dimensional spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with modulated couplings over j=1,2,3 sites. It turns out that the evolution of magnetisation plateaus depends on j and on the wave number q of the modulation according to the rule of Oshikawa, et al. A mapping of two- and three-leg zig-zag ladders on one dimensional systems with modulated couplings yields predictions for the occurence of magnetization plateaus. The latter are tested by numerical computations with the DMRG algorithm.
In this paper, we construct a class of spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic (AFM) two-chain ladder models consisting of blocks of n-spin tetrahedral clusters alternating with two-spin rungs. For n=4 and 6 and in extended parameter regimes, the exact ground state of the ladder is shown to be a product of the ground states of the rungs and the n-spin blocks, in both zero and finite magnetic fields. In the latter case, magnetization/site (m) versus magenetic field (h) plot exhibits well-defined magnetization plateaus.
We study the one-dimensional spin-1/2 model with nearest and next-to-nearest-neighbor couplings exposed to a homogeneous magnetic field $h_{3}$ and a dimer field with period $q$ and strength $δ$. The latter generates a magnetization plateau at $M=(1-q/π)/2$, which evolves with strength $δ$ of the perturbation as $δ^ε$, where $ε=ε(h_{3},α)$ is related to the $η$-exponent which describes the critical behavior of the dimer structure factor, if the perturbation is switched of ($δ=0$). We also discuss the appearance of magnetization plateaus in ladder systems with $l$ legs.
We investigate the conditions under which a gap vanishes in the spectrum of dimerized coupled spin-1/2 chains by means of Abelian bosonization and Lanczos diagonalization techniques. Although both interchain ($J'$) and dimerization ($δ$) couplings favor a gapful phase, it is shown that a suitable choice of these interactions yields massless spin excitations. We also discuss the influence of different arrays of relative dimerization on the appearance of non-trivial magnetization plateaus.
We investigate the effect of a magnetic field on a bosonic ladder. We show that such a system leads to the one dimensional equivalent of a vortex lattice in a superconductor. We investigate the physical properties of the vortex phase, such as vortex density and vortex correlation functions and show that magnetization has plateaus for some commensurate values of the mag netic field. The lowest plateau corresponds to a true Meissner to vortex transition at a critical field $H_{c1}$ that exists although the system has no long range superconducting order. Implications for experimental realizations…
We have established a quantum antiferromagnetic Heisenberg-Ising model on a spin-1/2 pyrochlore edge-shared ladder with Heisenberg intra-rung and Ising inter-rung interactions as a perspicuous candidate to exhibit magnetization mid and zero plateaus, characteristic peaks of magnetic susceptibility, and thermal entanglement mid plateau. The model is exactly solvable and thus, all the essential properties such as the thermal entanglement and the magnetic properties of the system can be exactly calculated. The calculations are done both through the transfer matrix technique and through the reduce…
We study the low-energy properties and, in particular, the magnetization process of a spin-1/2 Heisenberg $J_1-J_2$ sawtooth and frustrated chain (also known as zig-zag ladder) with a spatially anisotropic $g$-factor. We treat the problem both analytically and numerically while keeping the $J_2/J_1$ ratio generic. Numerically, we use complete and Lanczos diagonalization as well as the infinite time-evolving block decimation (iTEBD) method. Analytically we employ (non-)Abelian bosonization. Additionally for the sawtooth chain, we provide an analytical description in terms of flat bands and loca…
We study the dimerized spin ladder with nearest-neighbor ($J_1$) and next-nearest-neighbor ($J_2$) anti-ferromagnetic interaction under a magnetic field. We predict the existence of different magnetization plateaus for the presence of spin-Peierls interaction on both $J_1$ and $J_2$. Magnetization plateau at $m=0$ for $J_1$ dimerization is spontaneous due to XY interaction, but it is absent for $J_2$ dimerization, only intrinsic umklapp term leads to plateau (spin gap) state for some specific values of XXZ anisotropy ($Δ$) and $J_2$. Here we predict a saturation plateau which is the classical …
We study the ground-state magnetic phase diagram of a spin S=1/2 antiferromagnetic two-leg ladder in the presence of period two lattice units modulated, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction along the legs. We consider the case of collinear DM vectors and strong rung exchange and magnetic field. In this limit we map the initial ladder model onto the effective spin $σ=1/2$ XXZ chain and study the latter using the continuum-limit bosonization approach. We identified four quantum phase transitions and corresponding critical magnetic fields, which mark transitions from the spin gapped regimes int…
We review the properties of two coupled fermionic chains, or ladders, under a magnetic field parallel to the lattice plane. Results are computed by complementary analytical (bosonization) and numerical (density-matrix renormalization group) methods which allows a systematic comparison. Limiting cases such as coupled bands and coupled chains regimes are discussed. We particularly focus on the evolution of the superconducting correlations under increasing field and on the presence of irrational magnetization plateaus. We found the existence of large doping-dependent magnetization plateaus in the…
We show that the low-energy physics of the spin-tube model in presence of a critical magnetic field can be described by a broken SU(3) spin chain. Using the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis Theorem we characterize the possible magnetization plateaus and study the critical behavior in the region of transition between the plateaus m=1/2 and m=3/2 by means of renormalization group calculations performed on the bosonized effective continuum field theory. We show that in certain regions of the parameter space of the effective theory the system remains gapless, and we compute the spin-spin correlation functions …
We study XXZ Heisenberg models on frustrated triangular lattices wrapped around a cylinder. In addition to having interesting magnetic phases, these models are equivalent to Bose-Hubbard models that describe the physical problem of adsorption of noble gases on the surface of carbon nanotubes. We find analytical results for the possible magnetization plateau values as a function of the wrapping vectors of the cylinder, which in general introduce extra geometric frustration besides the one due to the underlying triangular lattice. We show that for particular wrapping vectors $(N,0)$, which corre…
The experimental realization of various spin ladder systems has prompted their detailed theoretical investigations. Here we study the evolution of ground state magnetization with an external magnetic field for two different antiferromagnetic systems: a three-legged spin-1/2 ladder, and a two-legged spin-1/2 ladder with an additional diagonal interaction. The finite system density-matrix renormalization group method is employed for numerical studies of the three-chain system, and an effective low-energy Hamiltonian is used in the limit of strong interchain coupling to study the two- and three-c…
The mixed spin-(1,1/2) Ising-Heisenberg double sawtooth ladder containing mixture of both spin-1 and spin-1/2 nodal atoms, and the spin-1/2 interstitial dimers is approximately solved by the transfer-matrix method. Here, we study in detail the ground-state phase diagrams, also influences of the bilinear exchange coupling on the rungs and cyclic four-spin exchange interaction in square plaquette of each block on the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility of the suggested ladder at low temperature. Such a double sawtooth ladder may be found in a Shastry-Sutherland Lattice-type. In spite of od…
In this review, we describe the potentialities offered by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique to explore at a microscopic level new quantum states of condensed matter induced by high magnetic fields. We focus on experiments realised in resistive (up to 34~T) or hybrid (up to 45~T) magnets, which open a large access to these quantum phase transitions. After an introduction on NMR observable, we consider several topics: quantum spin systems (spin-Peierls transition, spin ladders, spin nematic phases, magnetisation plateaus and Bose-Einstein condensation of triplet excitations), the fi…
