A review of the coupled cluster method (CCM) applied to lattice quantum spin systems is presented here. The CCM formalism is explained and an application to the spin-half {\it XXZ} model on the square lattice is presented. Low orders of approximation are carried out analytically and a high-order CCM formulation is presented. Results for the SUB2 approximation are carried out numerically for SUB2-
m and analytically for SUB2. It is found that SUB2-
m results converge rapidly to the full SUB2 solution, including new results for the SUB2-
m limiting points compared to the SUB2 critical point. Results for the ground-state energy and the sublattice magnetisation are presented. A study of the excitation spectrum of this model at the SUB2 critical point is given. Indeed, the shape of the excitation spectrum at the SUB2 critical point is identical to that predicted by spin-wave theory for the isotropic model, albeit with a multiplicative factor of 1.1672. This result compares very well to results of cumulant series expansions and Monte Carlo simulation that again predict a similar shape for the excitation spectrum, but with multiplicative factors of 1.18 and 1.21$\pm$0.03, respectively. Results for the isotropic Heisenberg model on the square lattice for the spin-one antiferromagnet and the spin-one/spin-half ferrimagnet are also given.
We study the zero-temperature phase diagram and the low-lying excitations of a square-lattice spin-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet with two types of regularly distributed nearest-neighbor exchange bonds
[J>0 (antiferromagnetic) and $\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\infty}<{J}^{\ensuremath{'}}<\ensuremath{\infty}]$ using the coupled cluster method (CCM) for high orders of approximation (up to LSUB8). We use a N\'eel model state as well as a helical model state as a starting point for the CCM calculations. We find a second-order transition from a phase with N\'eel order to a finite-gap quantum disordered phase for sufficiently large antiferromagnetic exchange constants ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}>0.$ For frustrating ferromagnetic couplings ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}<0$ we find indications that quantum fluctuations favor a first-order phase transition from the N\'eel order to a quantum helical state, by contrast with the corresponding second-order transition in the corresponding classical model. The results are compared to those of exact diagonalizations of finite systems (up to 32 sites) and those of spin-wave and variational calculations. The CCM results agree well with the exact diagonalization data over the whole range of the parameters. The special case of ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0,$ which is equivalent to the honeycomb lattice, is treated more closely.