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

Low Temperature Physics

Elementary excitations and thermodynamics of zig-zag spin ladders with alternating nearest-neighbor exchange interactions

Andrei A. Zvyagin, Vladyslav O. Cheranovskii

Published Jun 1, 2009• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A one-dimensional spin-1∕2 model in which the alternation of the exchange interactions between neighboring spins is accompanied by the next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) spin exchange (zig-zag spin ladder with alternation) is studied. The thermodynamic characteristics of the model quantum spin chain are obtained in the mean-field-like approximation. Depending on the strength of the NNN interactions, the model manifests either the spin-gapped behavior of low-lying excitations at low magnetic fields, or ferrimagnetic ordering in the ground state with gapless low-lying excitations. The system undergoes second-order or first-order quantum phase transitions, governed by the external magnetic field, NNN coupling strength, and the degree of the alternation. Hence, NNN spin–spin interactions in a dimerized quantum spin chain can produce a spontaneous magnetization. On the other hand, for quantum spin chains with a spontaneous magnetization, caused by NNN spin–spin couplings, the alternation of nearest-neighbor (NN) exchange interactions can cause destruction of that magnetization and the onset of a spin gap for low-lying excitations. Alternating NN interactions produce a spin gap between two branches of low-energy excitations, and the NNN interactions yield asymmetry of the dispersion laws of those excitations, with possible minima corresponding to incommensurate structures in the spin chain.

DOI
10.1063/1.3151992

Related papers

Exactly solvable quantum spin model with alternating and multiple spin exchange interactions

Andrei A. Zvyagin, Gleb A. Skorobagatko

We propose an exactly solvable quantum spin model, in which the alternation of the exchange interactions between neighboring spins is accompanied by the multiple spin exchange. The model permits us to obtain exactly thermodynamic characteristics of the considered quantum spin chain. In the ground state, depending on the strength of the three-spin coupling, the model manifests either the spin-gapped behavior of low-lying excitations at low magnetic fields, or the ferrimagnetic ordering with the spontaneous magnetization and with gapless low-lying excitations. The system undergoes second order or first order quantum phase transitions, governed by an external magnetic field and the multiple spin exchange coupling strength. Our exactly solvable quantum spin model demonstrates that multispin interactions in a dimerized quantum spin chain can produce a spontaneous magnetization. On the other hand, for quantum spin chains with a spontaneous magnetization, caused by multispin couplings, the alternation of nearest neighbor exchange interactions can be the reason for destroying of that magnetization and the onset of a spin gap for low-lying excitations.

Physical Review B•Jan 31, 2006•29 citations

Quantum phase transitions and thermodynamics of quantum antiferromagnets with next-nearest-neighbor couplings

Andrei A. Zvyagin, Andreas Klümper

We study quantum spin models with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions by means of exact solutions. Depending on the representation, the models can also be viewed as spin ladders with interchain couplings and with ring biquadratic spin-spin interactions. The ground-state phase diagram is constructed as a function of the next-nearest-neighbor couplings and an external magnetic field. Several quantum phase transitions in the ground state, including the possibility of a first-order quantum phase transition, governed by the external magnetic field, are predicted. The low-energy conformal behavior of the low-lying excitations is studied in the commensurate and incommensurate phases. Finally, the properties of the models at finite temperature are studied exactly. A finite set of nonlinear integral equations determining the thermodynamic potential at arbitrary temperature and external magnetic field is derived and solved in several important cases. The results for the magnetic susceptibility and the Sommerfeld coefficient of the specific heat are presented.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Oct 20, 2003•36 citations

Quantum phase transitions in low-dimensional quantum spin systems with incommensurate magnetic structures

Andrei A. Zvyagin

Several exactly solvable quantum spin models with incommensurate magnetic structures, which manifest quantum phase transitions between incommensurate and commensurate phases, are proposed. The ground-state and thermodynamic characteristics of these quantum spin antiferromagnetic models with the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya antisymmetric exchange interaction and spin-frustrating next-nearest-neighbor, three-spin, and four-spin (ring exchange) interactions are exactly studied. We investigated the ground state phases of the considered models, as function of the magnetic anisotropy, Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction, next-nearest-neighbor coupling constants, and external magnetic field. Several quantum phase transitions between magnetically incommensurate phases and between incommensurate and ferromagnetic phases are predicted, and the behavior of thermodynamic characteristics of those models at phase transitions is studied. We have shown that for models with chiral three-spin interactions the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya coupling yields the onset of the weak ferromagnetism, similar to three-dimensional ordered antiferromagnets, but not present in other quantum spin chains with the antisymmetric exchange. Considered models appeared to be important for several quasi-one-dimensional spin systems, studied in recent experiments.

Physical Review B•Aug 10, 2005•19 citations

Dynamical Studies of Antiferromagnetic Exchange Interactions in Low Dimensional Quantum Spin Systems

Various forms of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction among quantized spins in one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional lattices are examined. Primary results are reported in two real compounds, the sodium vanadate NaV2O5 and the copper germanate CuGeO3, and in a class of compounds of real materials modeled as dimerized antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains susceptible to spin-1 impurity doping and that include such examples as the strontium cuprate Sr14Cu24O41 and vanadium pyrophosphate (VO)2P2O7. Sodium vanadate, NaV2O5, a quarter-filled two-leg ladder compound that was originally thought to be composed of magnetic legs and nonmagnetic legs was subsequently shown to be a charge ordered system below room temperature. Initial models of the material as isolated antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains can be mapped to the subsequently resolved magnetic system of the charge ordered state with the spins on molecular orbitals of V-O-V rungs antiferromagentically coupled between neighboring rungs either on the same ladder or on neighboring ladders. Comparing the model's dynamic structure factor to inelastic neutron scattering data could distinguish between the proposed spin coupling schemes and consequently reveal the details of the interaction between the lattice and the "zig-zag" charge density as well as the magnetic stabilization of the low temperature phase. Copper germanate, the first and only known inorganic spin-Peierls compound, exhibits a strong temperature dependent exchange coupling pattern among the spin-1/2 Cu2+ chains. Above the spin-Peierls transition temperature an unmodulated antiferromagnetic nearest neighbor exchange interaction J1 competes with an antiferromagnetic next nearest neighbor interaction J2. The next nearest neighbor exchange represents an effective coupling equivalent to the net effect of all longer range exchange interactions. This frustration to the nearest neighbor spin exchange produces a distinctive magnetic susceptibility χ (T) much different from the Bonner-Fisher susceptibility of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange only. The ratio of the second to first nearest neighbor couplings α = J2/J1 ≈ 0.36 is sufficient to open a spontaneous gap in the spin-wave excitation spectrum at low temperatures. Below TSP = 14K, the dynamical structure factor is used to fit the dimerization δ and the exchange interactions J1 and J2 to the inelastic neutron scattering data of CuGeO3 at T = 10K. It is found that both δ and α increase significantly at lower temperatures, relative to the values obtained in the high temperature phase and at the onset of dimeration at 14 K. Static structure factor calculations how Scattering inconsistent with the δ−J1−J2 model and can be attributed primarily to the phonon degrees of freedom but possibly also to the couplings between chains in the b and a directions of the crystal lattice. Structurally dimerized compounds of antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains possess dynamic structure factor and magnetic susceptibility features that are very sensitive to doping with magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities. It is shown that the effects of spin-1 impurities are very similar to those of nonmagnetic (S = 0) impurities if the coupling between impurity and native spin is about the same magnitude as or larger than between native S = 1/2 spins. The microscopic origins of the similarity can be appreciated with the consideration that neighboring spins to the impurity find it more energetically favorable to couple to the impurity than the other spins of the lattice. Thus the spin-1 impurity and its neighboring S = 1/2 spins decouple from the lattice, creating a nonmagnetic break in the chain. The spins that now observe a nonmagnetic cluster on one side can couple to the S = 1/2 spins on the other side with a higher AF correlation than in the pure compound since they do not have to have a fluctuating dimer resonating between two neighbors. Such enhancements to the local correlations can stabilize the global AF order in one dimensional compounds as shown in theoretical and experimental studies of CuGeO3. ED calculations of the dynamic structure factor show that S(q, ω) developes states with ω = 0 in the gap at q = π. Magnetic susceptibilites in the presense of spin-1 impurities were obtained for 80 site chains by QMC simulations and for 16 site chains by ED calculations. An impurity concentration-dependent second peak in the low temperature region reveals an increasing second maximum with T as observed in doped copper germanates and suggests that the results of the study are applicable even to phonon mediated dimerization. This is not immediately apparent because spin-phonon coupling could distort the dimerization patterns. However, experimental and theoretical results show that elastic coupling between chains can stabilize the dimerization pattern due to the impurities and the results will still apply.

•Jan 1, 2003•0 citations

Phase diagram of the Kondo model on the zigzag ladder

Matthias Peschke, Lena-Marie Woelk, Michael Potthoff

The effect of next-nearest-neighbor hopping ${t}_{2}$ on the ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice is studied with density-matrix renormalization-group techniques and by comparing with the phase diagram of the classical-spin variant of the same model. For a finite ${t}_{2}$, i.e., for a zigzag-ladder geometry, indirect antiferromagnetic interactions between the localized spins are geometrically frustrated. We demonstrate that ${t}_{2}$ at the same time triggers several magnetic phases which are absent in the model with nearest-neighbor hopping only. For strong $J$, we find a transition from antiferromagnetic to incommensurate magnetic short-range order, which can be understood entirely in the classical-spin picture. For weaker $J$, a spin-dimerized phase emerges, which spontaneously breaks the discrete translation symmetry. The phase is not accessible to perturbative means but is explained, on a qualitative level, by the classical-spin model as well. Spin dimerization alleviates magnetic frustration and is interpreted as a key to understand the emergence of quasi-long-range spiral magnetic order, which is found at weaker couplings. The phase diagram at weak $J$, with gapless quasi-long-range order on top of the twofold degenerate spin-dimerized ground state, competing with a nondegenerate phase with gapped spin (and charge) excitations, is unconventional and eludes an effective low-energy spin-only theory.

arXiv:1901.01236•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Feb 27, 2019•4 citations

Theory of the electron spin resonance in quantum spin chains with nearest, next-nearest neighbor, and alternating interactions

Andrei A. Zvyagin

The dynamical mean-field-like theory of the electron spin resonance (ESR) in spin-1/2 chains with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions (or zigzag spin ladders) and alternation is developed. It is explained that either the magnetic anisotropy of spin-spin couplings or the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction causes shifts of the resonance position in spin chains, comparing to only magnetically isotropic interactions. The power of the ac ESR field, absorbed by the spin chain, is calculated. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the shift of the resonance position is related to the temperature dependence of the ESR absorption. Depending on the strength of next-nearest neighbor interactions, the shift of the ESR position can become either exponentially small or can be increased near quantum critical points. The absorbed by the alternating spin chain power of the ac magnetic field is calculated, manifesting two resonances. The influence of mentioned spin-spin interactions on the linewidth of the ESR is analyzed.

Physical Review B•Feb 27, 2009•9 citations
A one-dimensional spin-1∕2 model in which the alternation of the exchange interactions between neighboring spins is accompanied by the next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) spin exchange (zig-zag spin ladder with alternation) is studied. The thermodynamic characteristics of the model quantum spin chain are obtained in the mean-field-like approximation. Depending on the strength of the NNN interactions, the model manifests either the spin-gapped behavior of low-lying excitations at low magnetic fields, or ferrimagnetic ordering in the ground state with gapless low-lying excitations. The system undergoes second-order or first-order quantum phase transitions, governed by the external magnetic field, NNN coupling strength, and the degree of the alternation. Hence, NNN spin–spin interactions in a dimerized quantum spin chain can produce a spontaneous magnetization. On the other hand, for quantum spin chains with a spontaneous magnetization, caused by NNN spin–spin couplings, the alternation of nearest-neighbor (NN) exchange interactions can cause destruction of that magnetization and the onset of a spin gap for low-lying excitations. Alternating NN interactions produce a spin gap between two branches of low-energy excitations, and the NNN interactions yield asymmetry of the dispersion laws of those excitations, with possible minima corresponding to incommensurate structures in the spin chain.
We propose an exactly solvable quantum spin model, in which the alternation of the exchange interactions between neighboring spins is accompanied by the multiple spin exchange. The model permits us to obtain exactly thermodynamic characteristics of the considered quantum spin chain. In the ground state, depending on the strength of the three-spin coupling, the model manifests either the spin-gapped behavior of low-lying excitations at low magnetic fields, or the ferrimagnetic ordering with the spontaneous magnetization and with gapless low-lying excitations. The system undergoes second order or first order quantum phase transitions, governed by an external magnetic field and the multiple spin exchange coupling strength. Our exactly solvable quantum spin model demonstrates that multispin interactions in a dimerized quantum spin chain can produce a spontaneous magnetization. On the other hand, for quantum spin chains with a spontaneous magnetization, caused by multispin couplings, the alternation of nearest neighbor exchange interactions can be the reason for destroying of that magnetization and the onset of a spin gap for low-lying excitations.
We study quantum spin models with nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions by means of exact solutions. Depending on the representation, the models can also be viewed as spin ladders with interchain couplings and with ring biquadratic spin-spin interactions. The ground-state phase diagram is constructed as a function of the next-nearest-neighbor couplings and an external magnetic field. Several quantum phase transitions in the ground state, including the possibility of a first-order quantum phase transition, governed by the external magnetic field, are predicted. The low-energy conformal behavior of the low-lying excitations is studied in the commensurate and incommensurate phases. Finally, the properties of the models at finite temperature are studied exactly. A finite set of nonlinear integral equations determining the thermodynamic potential at arbitrary temperature and external magnetic field is derived and solved in several important cases. The results for the magnetic susceptibility and the Sommerfeld coefficient of the specific heat are presented.
Several exactly solvable quantum spin models with incommensurate magnetic structures, which manifest quantum phase transitions between incommensurate and commensurate phases, are proposed. The ground-state and thermodynamic characteristics of these quantum spin antiferromagnetic models with the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya antisymmetric exchange interaction and spin-frustrating next-nearest-neighbor, three-spin, and four-spin (ring exchange) interactions are exactly studied. We investigated the ground state phases of the considered models, as function of the magnetic anisotropy, Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction, next-nearest-neighbor coupling constants, and external magnetic field. Several quantum phase transitions between magnetically incommensurate phases and between incommensurate and ferromagnetic phases are predicted, and the behavior of thermodynamic characteristics of those models at phase transitions is studied. We have shown that for models with chiral three-spin interactions the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya coupling yields the onset of the weak ferromagnetism, similar to three-dimensional ordered antiferromagnets, but not present in other quantum spin chains with the antisymmetric exchange. Considered models appeared to be important for several quasi-one-dimensional spin systems, studied in recent experiments.
Various forms of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction among quantized spins in one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional lattices are examined. Primary results are reported in two real compounds, the sodium vanadate NaV2O5 and the copper germanate CuGeO3, and in a class of compounds of real materials modeled as dimerized antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains susceptible to spin-1 impurity doping and that include such examples as the strontium cuprate Sr14Cu24O41 and vanadium pyrophosphate (VO)2P2O7. Sodium vanadate, NaV2O5, a quarter-filled two-leg ladder compound that was originally thought to be composed of magnetic legs and nonmagnetic legs was subsequently shown to be a charge ordered system below room temperature. Initial models of the material as isolated antiferromagnetically coupled spin-1/2 chains can be mapped to the subsequently resolved magnetic system of the charge ordered state with the spins on molecular orbitals of V-O-V rungs antiferromagentically coupled between neighboring rungs either on the same ladder or on neighboring ladders. Comparing the model's dynamic structure factor to inelastic neutron scattering data could distinguish between the proposed spin coupling schemes and consequently reveal the details of the interaction between the lattice and the "zig-zag" charge density as well as the magnetic stabilization of the low temperature phase. Copper germanate, the first and only known inorganic spin-Peierls compound, exhibits a strong temperature dependent exchange coupling pattern among the spin-1/2 Cu2+ chains. Above the spin-Peierls transition temperature an unmodulated antiferromagnetic nearest neighbor exchange interaction J1 competes with an antiferromagnetic next nearest neighbor interaction J2. The next nearest neighbor exchange represents an effective coupling equivalent to the net effect of all longer range exchange interactions. This frustration to the nearest neighbor spin exchange produces a distinctive magnetic susceptibility χ (T) much different from the Bonner-Fisher susceptibility of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic exchange only. The ratio of the second to first nearest neighbor couplings α = J2/J1 ≈ 0.36 is sufficient to open a spontaneous gap in the spin-wave excitation spectrum at low temperatures. Below TSP = 14K, the dynamical structure factor is used to fit the dimerization δ and the exchange interactions J1 and J2 to the inelastic neutron scattering data of CuGeO3 at T = 10K. It is found that both δ and α increase significantly at lower temperatures, relative to the values obtained in the high temperature phase and at the onset of dimeration at 14 K. Static structure factor calculations how Scattering inconsistent with the δ−J1−J2 model and can be attributed primarily to the phonon degrees of freedom but possibly also to the couplings between chains in the b and a directions of the crystal lattice. Structurally dimerized compounds of antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains possess dynamic structure factor and magnetic susceptibility features that are very sensitive to doping with magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities. It is shown that the effects of spin-1 impurities are very similar to those of nonmagnetic (S = 0) impurities if the coupling between impurity and native spin is about the same magnitude as or larger than between native S = 1/2 spins. The microscopic origins of the similarity can be appreciated with the consideration that neighboring spins to the impurity find it more energetically favorable to couple to the impurity than the other spins of the lattice. Thus the spin-1 impurity and its neighboring S = 1/2 spins decouple from the lattice, creating a nonmagnetic break in the chain. The spins that now observe a nonmagnetic cluster on one side can couple to the S = 1/2 spins on the other side with a higher AF correlation than in the pure compound since they do not have to have a fluctuating dimer resonating between two neighbors. Such enhancements to the local correlations can stabilize the global AF order in one dimensional compounds as shown in theoretical and experimental studies of CuGeO3. ED calculations of the dynamic structure factor show that S(q, ω) developes states with ω = 0 in the gap at q = π. Magnetic susceptibilites in the presense of spin-1 impurities were obtained for 80 site chains by QMC simulations and for 16 site chains by ED calculations. An impurity concentration-dependent second peak in the low temperature region reveals an increasing second maximum with T as observed in doped copper germanates and suggests that the results of the study are applicable even to phonon mediated dimerization. This is not immediately apparent because spin-phonon coupling could distort the dimerization patterns. However, experimental and theoretical results show that elastic coupling between chains can stabilize the dimerization pattern due to the impurities and the results will still apply.
The effect of next-nearest-neighbor hopping t2{t}_{2}t2​ on the ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice is studied with density-matrix renormalization-group techniques and by comparing with the phase diagram of the classical-spin variant of the same model. For a finite t2{t}_{2}t2​, i.e., for a zigzag-ladder geometry, indirect antiferromagnetic interactions between the localized spins are geometrically frustrated. We demonstrate that t2{t}_{2}t2​ at the same time triggers several magnetic phases which are absent in the model with nearest-neighbor hopping only. For strong JJJ, we find a transition from antiferromagnetic to incommensurate magnetic short-range order, which can be understood entirely in the classical-spin picture. For weaker JJJ, a spin-dimerized phase emerges, which spontaneously breaks the discrete translation symmetry. The phase is not accessible to perturbative means but is explained, on a qualitative level, by the classical-spin model as well. Spin dimerization alleviates magnetic frustration and is interpreted as a key to understand the emergence of quasi-long-range spiral magnetic order, which is found at weaker couplings. The phase diagram at weak JJJ, with gapless quasi-long-range order on top of the twofold degenerate spin-dimerized ground state, competing with a nondegenerate phase with gapped spin (and charge) excitations, is unconventional and eludes an effective low-energy spin-only theory.
The dynamical mean-field-like theory of the electron spin resonance (ESR) in spin-1/2 chains with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions (or zigzag spin ladders) and alternation is developed. It is explained that either the magnetic anisotropy of spin-spin couplings or the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction causes shifts of the resonance position in spin chains, comparing to only magnetically isotropic interactions. The power of the ac ESR field, absorbed by the spin chain, is calculated. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the shift of the resonance position is related to the temperature dependence of the ESR absorption. Depending on the strength of next-nearest neighbor interactions, the shift of the ESR position can become either exponentially small or can be increased near quantum critical points. The absorbed by the alternating spin chain power of the ac magnetic field is calculated, manifesting two resonances. The influence of mentioned spin-spin interactions on the linewidth of the ESR is analyzed.