We study the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ easy-plane XXZ model with a ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor (NN) coupling ${J}_{1}$ and a competing next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) antiferromagnetic coupling ${J}_{2}$ in the parameter range $0<{J}_{2}/|{J}_{1}|<0.4$. When ${J}_{2}/|{J}_{1}|\ensuremath{\lesssim}1/4$, the model is in a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid phase which is adiabatically connected to the critical phase of the XXZ model of ${J}_{2}=0$. On the basis of the effective (sine-Gordon) theory and numerical analyses of low-lying energy levels of finite-size systems, we show that the NNN coupling induces phase transitions from the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid to gapped phases with either N\'eel or dimer order. Interestingly, these two types of ordered phases appear alternately as the easy-plane anisotropy is changed toward the isotropic limit. The appearance of the antiferromagnetic (N\'eel) order in this model is remarkable, as it is strongly unfavored by both the easy-plane ferromagnetic NN coupling and the antiferromagnetic NNN coupling in the classical-spin picture. We argue that emergent trimer degrees of freedom play a crucial role in the formation of the N\'eel order.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional spin-21 easy-plane XXZ model with a ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor (NN) coupling J1 and a competing next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) antiferromagnetic coupling J2 in the parameter range 0<J2/∣J1∣<0.4. When J2/∣J1∣\ensuremath≲1/4, the model is in a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid phase which is adiabatically connected to the critical phase of the XXZ model of J2=0. On the basis of the effective (sine-Gordon) theory and numerical analyses of low-lying energy levels of finite-size systems, we show that the NNN coupling induces phase transitions from the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid to gapped phases with either N'eel or dimer order. Interestingly, these two types of ordered phases appear alternately as the easy-plane anisotropy is changed toward the isotropic limit. The appearance of the antiferromagnetic (N'eel) order in this model is remarkable, as it is strongly unfavored by both the easy-plane ferromagnetic NN coupling and the antiferromagnetic NNN coupling in the classical-spin picture. We argue that emergent trimer degrees of freedom play a crucial role in the formation of the N'eel order.
We summarize our theoretical findings on the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-½ XXZ chain having competing nearest-neighbor (J1) and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor (J2) couplings. Our study is mainly concerned with the case of ferromagnetic J1, and the case of antiferromagnetic J1 is briefly reviewed for comparison. The phase diagram contains a rich variety of phases in the plane of J1/J2 versus the XXZ anisotropy Δ: vector-chiral phases, Néel phases, several dimer phases, and Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid phases. We discuss the vector-chiral order that appears for a remarkably wide parameter space, successive Néel-dimer phase transitions, and an emergent nonlocal string order in a narrow region of ferromagnetic J1 side.
The ground-state phase diagram of a spin-21 XXZ chain with competing ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor (J1<0) and antiferromagnetic second-neighbor (J2>0) exchange couplings is studied by means of the infinite time evolving block decimation algorithm and effective field theories. For the SU(2)-symmetric (Heisenberg) case, we show that the nonmagnetic phase in the range $\ensuremath{-}4<{J}_{1}/{J}_{2}<0$ has a small but finite ferromagnetic dimer order. We argue that this spontaneous dimer order is associated with effective spin-1 degrees of freedom on dimerized bonds, which collectively form a valence bond solid state as in the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain (the Haldane spin chain). We thus call this phase the Haldane dimer phase. With easy-plane anisotropy, the model exhibits a variety of phases including the vector chiral phase with gapless excitations and the even-parity dimer and N\'eel phases with gapped excitations, in addition to the Haldane dimer phase. Furthermore, we show the existence of gapped phases with coexisting orders in narrow regions that intervene between the gapless chiral phase and any one of Haldane dimer, even-parity dimer, and N\'eel phases. Possible implications for quasi-one-dimensional edge-sharing cuprates are discussed.
The spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with a ferromagnetic first-neighbor exchange coupling J1 and an antiferromagnetic second-neighbor J2 has a Haldane dimer ground state with an extremely small spin gap. Thus the ground state is readily altered by perturbations. Here, we investigate the effects of XXZ exchange magnetic anisotropy of both the easy-axis and easy-plane types and an alternation in J1 on the ground state, the spin gap, and magnetic properties of the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain. It is found that there are two distinct dimerized spin-gap phases, in one of which the spin gap and the magnetic susceptibility are extremely small around the SU(2) symmetric case and in the other they are moderately large far away from the SU(2) symmetric case. A small alternation in the amplitude of J1 rapidly shortens the pitch of spin correlations towards the four-spin periodicity, as in the limit of ${J}_{1}/{J}_{2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. These effects are not sufficient to quantitatively explain overall experimentally observed magnetic properties in the quasi-one-dimensional spin-gapped magnetoelectric cuprate Rb2Cu2Mo3O12 that exhibits ferroelectricity stabilized by a magnetic field. Our results are also relevant to Cs2Cu2Mo3O12, where the ferromagnetic intrachain and antiferromagnetic interchain order has recently been found, in a single chain level. We also reveal the nature of symmetry-protected topological phase transitions in the model by mapping onto effective spin-1 chain models.
A frustrated spin-1/2 XXZ chain model comprising a ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor coupling with the bond alternation, ${J}_{1}(1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\delta})<0$, and an antiferromagnetic second-neighbor exchange coupling J2>0 is studied at zero and weak magnetic fields by means of density-matrix renormalization-group calculations of order parameters, correlation functions, and the entanglement entropy, as well as an Abelian bosonization analysis. At zero magnetic field, the bond alternation $\ensuremath{\delta}>0$ suppresses the gapless phase characterized by a vector-chiral (VC) long-range order (LRO) and a quasi-LRO of an incommensurate spin spiral, whereas this phase occupies a large region in the space of J1/J2 and the easy-plane exchange anisotropy for $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$ [S. Furukawa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 257205 (2010)]. Then, four gapped phases are found to appear as the exchange anisotropy varies from the SU(2)-symmetric case to the U(1)-symmetric case: the Haldane dimer (D+) phase with the same sign of the x,y- and z-component dimer order parameters, two VC dimer (VCD+/VCD${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$) phases with the sign of the z-component dimer order parameter being unaltered/reversed, and the even-parity dimer (D${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$) phase. At small magnetic fields, a field-induced ring-exchange interaction, which is proportional to a staggered scalar chirality and a magnetic flux penetrating the associated triangle, drives a transition from the D${}_{\ensuremath{-}}$ phase into a VC-Neel-dimer (VCND) phase, but not from the D+ phase. This VCND phase is stable up to the large magnetic field at which the Zeeman term closes the spin gap. A possible relevance to Rb2Cu2Mo3O12 is discussed.
We study the one-dimensional spin-21 Heisenberg model with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor J1 and next-nearest-neighbor J2 exchange couplings in magnetic field h. With varying dimensionless parameters J2/J1 and h/J1, the ground state of the model exhibits several phases including three gapped phases (dimer, 1/3-magnetization plateau, and fully polarized phases) and four types of gapless Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) phases which we dub TLL1, TLL2, spin-density-wave (SDW2), and vector chiral phases. From extensive numerical calculations using the density-matrix renormalization-group method, we investigate various (multiple-)spin-correlation functions in detail and determine dominant and subleading correlations in each phase. For the one-component TLLs, i.e., the TLL1, SDW2, and vector chiral phases, we fit the numerically obtained correlation functions to those calculated from effective low-energy theories of TLLs and find good agreement between them. The low-energy theory for each critical TLL phase is thus identified, together with TLL parameters which control the exponents of power-law decaying correlation functions. For the TLL2 phase, we develop an effective low-energy theory of two-component TLL consisting of two free bosons (central charge c=1+1), which explains numerical results of entanglement entropy and Friedel oscillations of local magnetization. Implications of our results to possible magnetic phase transitions in real quasi-one-dimensional compounds are also discussed.
We study Heisenberg spin-1/2 and spin-1 chains with alternating ferromagnetic (J1F) and antiferromagnetic (J1A) nearest-neighbor interactions and ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interaction (J2F). In this model frustration is induced by the non-zero J2F and the effect of dimerization is realized by changing the strength of J1A for a fixed value of J1F. The model with site spin s behaves like a Haldane spin chain with site spin 2s in the limit of vanishing J2F and large J1F/J1A. We show that the exact ground state of the model can be found along a line in the parameter space. The phase diagram in the space of J1A−J2F is determined using numerical techniques complemented by some analytical calculations. A number of quantities, including the ground state spin, energy gap, structure factor, entanglement entropy, and zero temperature magnetization, are studied to understand the complete phase diagram. An interesting and application-wise important feature of this model is that it exhibits a macroscopic magnetization jump in the presence of a magnetic field; we study this using an effective Hamiltonian.