Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1707.07931 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Devil's staircases without particle-hole symmetry

Zhihao Lan, Igor Lesanovsky, Weibin Li

Published Feb 9, 2018• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present and analyze spin models with long-range interactions whose ground state features a so-called devil's staircase and where plateaus of the staircase are accessed by varying two-body interactions. This is in contrast to the canonical devil's staircase, for example, occurring in the one-dimensional Ising model with long-range interactions, where typically a single-body chemical potential is varied to scan through the plateaus. These systems, moreover, typically feature a particle-hole symmetry which trivially connects the hole part of the staircase (filling fraction $f\ensuremath{\ge}1/2$) to its particle part ($f\ensuremath{\le}1/2$). Such symmetry is absent in our models and hence the particle sector and the hole sector can be separately controlled, resulting in exotic hybrid staircases.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.97.075117

Related papers

A Devil's Staircase and the Ground State Phase Diagram in an Ising Chain with Spin-Lattice Coupling

Norikazu Ishimura

A one-dimensional Ising chain with spin-lattice coupling is considered. If the lattice is harmonic but has no translational symmetry, there appears effectively through the spin-lattice coupling a four-spin interaction which decays exponentially with distance. It is shown rigorously that this spin system in the ground state exhibits a devil's staircase as a function of the exchange parameter J because of the long range interaction. The ground state phase diagram of the spin system under an external magnetic field is speculated.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Dec 15, 1985•15 citations

The Devil's Staircase in an Ising Chain with Spin-Lattice Coupling

Norikazu Ishimura

A one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Ising chain with spin-lattice coupling is considered. If the underlying lattice is harmonic but has no translational symmetry, there appears at zero temperature an effective interaction between down spins, which is repulsive and decays exponentially with distance. It is shown rigorotusly that this system exhibits in the ground state a devil's staircase as a function of an external magnetic field on account of the effective long range interaction. The ground state phase diagram is also given.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Mar 15, 1985•7 citations

A Devil's Staircase in an Ising System on a Square and a Simple Cubic Lattices

Norikazu Ishimura

An Ising spin system which is situated on a two-dimensional square or a three-dimensional simple cubic lattice is considered. If there is a spin-lattice coupling and the lattice has no translational symmetry, there appears effectively a long range four-spin interaction in which the four spins are on a same axis. The ground state of the spin system is represented by using the ground state of a one-dimensional system where only the interactions along one axis are considered. The devil's staircase which has recently been shown to exist in such a one-dimensional system is wholly reproduced in a system on a two-dimensional square or a three-dimensional simple cubic lattice.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Jan 15, 1986•3 citations

Emergent Devil’s Staircase without Particle-Hole Symmetry in Rydberg Quantum Gases with Competing Attractive and Repulsive Interactions

Zhihao Lan, Jiří Minář, Emanuele Levi +2 more

The devil's staircase is a fractal structure that characterizes the ground state of one-dimensional classical lattice gases with long-range repulsive convex interactions. Its plateaus mark regions of stability for specific filling fractions which are controlled by a chemical potential. Typically, such a staircase has an explicit particle-hole symmetry; i.e., the staircase at more than half filling can be trivially extracted from the one at less than half filling by exchanging the roles of holes and particles. Here, we introduce a quantum spin chain with competing short-range attractive and long-range repulsive interactions, i.e., a nonconvex potential. In the classical limit the ground state features generalized Wigner crystals that--depending on the filling fraction--are composed of either dimer particles or dimer holes, which results in an emergent complete devil's staircase without explicit particle-hole symmetry of the underlying microscopic model. In our system the particle-hole symmetry is lifted due to the fact that the staircase is controlled through a two-body interaction rather than a one-body chemical potential. The introduction of quantum fluctuations through a transverse field melts the staircase and ultimately makes the system enter a paramagnetic phase. For intermediate transverse field strengths, however, we identify a region where the density-density correlations suggest the emergence of quasi-long-range order. We discuss how this physics can be explored with Rydberg-dressed atoms held in a lattice.

arXiv:1504.07934•Physical Review Letters•Nov 11, 2015•26 citations

The devil's staircase in 1-dimensional dipolar Bose gases in optical lattices

F. J. Burnell

We consider a single-component gas of dipolar bosons confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice, where the dipoles are aligned such that the long-ranged dipolar interactions are maximally repulsive. In the limit of zero inter-site hopping and sufficiently large on-site interaction, the phase diagram is a complete devil's staircase for filling fractions between 0 and 1: every commensurate state at a rational filling is stable over a finite interval in chemical potential, and for every chemical potential the system is in a gapped commensurate phase. We perturb away from this limit in two experimentally motivated directions involving the addition of hopping and a reduction of the onsite interaction. The addition of hopping alone yields a phase diagram, which we compute in perturbation theory in the hopping, where the commensurate Mott phases now compete with the superfluid. We capture the physics of the Mott-superfluid phase transitions via bosonization. In a finite trap, we argue using an LDA and simulated annealing that this results in regions of commensurate states separated by patches with dominant superfluid correlations. Further softening of the onsite interaction yields alternative commensurate states with double occupancies which can form a devil's staircase of their own; we describe these states and discuss the possible transitions between them. Adding a hopping term in this case produces one-dimensional "supersolids" which simultaneously exhibit discrete broken symmetries and superfluidity. The contents of this work was first published as a chapter in the doctoral thesis `On Exotic Orders in Strongly Correlated Systems' (Princeton University, 09/09, supervised by S. L. Sondhi), and constitutes a considerably more detailed version of [PRB 80: 174519 (2009)].

arXiv:1004.5595•Apr 30, 2010•0 citations

On the nature of fractional magnetization plateaus in the spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg and Heisenberg models on two-dimensional triangulated lattices

Jana Čisárová, Frédéric Michaud, Frédéric Mila +1 more

•Jan 10, 2013•0 citations
We present and analyze spin models with long-range interactions whose ground state features a so-called devil's staircase and where plateaus of the staircase are accessed by varying two-body interactions. This is in contrast to the canonical devil's staircase, for example, occurring in the one-dimensional Ising model with long-range interactions, where typically a single-body chemical potential is varied to scan through the plateaus. These systems, moreover, typically feature a particle-hole symmetry which trivially connects the hole part of the staircase (filling fraction f\ensuremath≥1/2f\ensuremath{\ge}1/2f\ensuremath≥1/2) to its particle part (f\ensuremath≤1/2f\ensuremath{\le}1/2f\ensuremath≤1/2). Such symmetry is absent in our models and hence the particle sector and the hole sector can be separately controlled, resulting in exotic hybrid staircases.
A one-dimensional Ising chain with spin-lattice coupling is considered. If the lattice is harmonic but has no translational symmetry, there appears effectively through the spin-lattice coupling a four-spin interaction which decays exponentially with distance. It is shown rigorously that this spin system in the ground state exhibits a devil's staircase as a function of the exchange parameter J because of the long range interaction. The ground state phase diagram of the spin system under an external magnetic field is speculated.
A one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Ising chain with spin-lattice coupling is considered. If the underlying lattice is harmonic but has no translational symmetry, there appears at zero temperature an effective interaction between down spins, which is repulsive and decays exponentially with distance. It is shown rigorotusly that this system exhibits in the ground state a devil's staircase as a function of an external magnetic field on account of the effective long range interaction. The ground state phase diagram is also given.
An Ising spin system which is situated on a two-dimensional square or a three-dimensional simple cubic lattice is considered. If there is a spin-lattice coupling and the lattice has no translational symmetry, there appears effectively a long range four-spin interaction in which the four spins are on a same axis. The ground state of the spin system is represented by using the ground state of a one-dimensional system where only the interactions along one axis are considered. The devil's staircase which has recently been shown to exist in such a one-dimensional system is wholly reproduced in a system on a two-dimensional square or a three-dimensional simple cubic lattice.
The devil's staircase is a fractal structure that characterizes the ground state of one-dimensional classical lattice gases with long-range repulsive convex interactions. Its plateaus mark regions of stability for specific filling fractions which are controlled by a chemical potential. Typically, such a staircase has an explicit particle-hole symmetry; i.e., the staircase at more than half filling can be trivially extracted from the one at less than half filling by exchanging the roles of holes and particles. Here, we introduce a quantum spin chain with competing short-range attractive and long-range repulsive interactions, i.e., a nonconvex potential. In the classical limit the ground state features generalized Wigner crystals that--depending on the filling fraction--are composed of either dimer particles or dimer holes, which results in an emergent complete devil's staircase without explicit particle-hole symmetry of the underlying microscopic model. In our system the particle-hole symmetry is lifted due to the fact that the staircase is controlled through a two-body interaction rather than a one-body chemical potential. The introduction of quantum fluctuations through a transverse field melts the staircase and ultimately makes the system enter a paramagnetic phase. For intermediate transverse field strengths, however, we identify a region where the density-density correlations suggest the emergence of quasi-long-range order. We discuss how this physics can be explored with Rydberg-dressed atoms held in a lattice.
We consider a single-component gas of dipolar bosons confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice, where the dipoles are aligned such that the long-ranged dipolar interactions are maximally repulsive. In the limit of zero inter-site hopping and sufficiently large on-site interaction, the phase diagram is a complete devil's staircase for filling fractions between 0 and 1: every commensurate state at a rational filling is stable over a finite interval in chemical potential, and for every chemical potential the system is in a gapped commensurate phase. We perturb away from this limit in two experimentally motivated directions involving the addition of hopping and a reduction of the onsite interaction. The addition of hopping alone yields a phase diagram, which we compute in perturbation theory in the hopping, where the commensurate Mott phases now compete with the superfluid. We capture the physics of the Mott-superfluid phase transitions via bosonization. In a finite trap, we argue using an LDA and simulated annealing that this results in regions of commensurate states separated by patches with dominant superfluid correlations. Further softening of the onsite interaction yields alternative commensurate states with double occupancies which can form a devil's staircase of their own; we describe these states and discuss the possible transitions between them. Adding a hopping term in this case produces one-dimensional "supersolids" which simultaneously exhibit discrete broken symmetries and superfluidity. The contents of this work was first published as a chapter in the doctoral thesis `On Exotic Orders in Strongly Correlated Systems' (Princeton University, 09/09, supervised by S. L. Sondhi), and constitutes a considerably more detailed version of [PRB 80: 174519 (2009)].