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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Solitons in one-dimensional antiferromagnetic chains

Antonio S. T. Pires, Sérgio Luiz Talim, B. V. Costa

Published Apr 1, 1989• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study the quantum-statistical mechanics, at low temperatures, of a one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with two anisotropies. In the weak-coupling limit we determine the temperature dependences of the soliton energy and the soliton density. We have found that the leading correction to the sine-Gordon (SG) expression for the soliton density and the quantum soliton energy comes from the out-of-plane magnon mode, not present in the pure SG model. We also show that when an external magnetic field is applied, the chain supports a new type of kink, where the sublattices rotate in opposite directions.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.39.7149

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Making use of thermal-Green's-function technique, we study the quantum-statistical mechanics of a sine-Gordon system in 1 + 1 dimensions. In the weak-coupling limit, the temperature dependences of the soliton energy, ${E}_{s}$, the soliton inertial mass, and the soliton density are determined. At high temperatures ($T>m$, where $m$ is the mass of the fundamental field), ${E}_{s}$ decreases monotonically as the temperature increases, and ${E}_{s}$ jumps to zero around $T={T}_{\mathrm{cr}}$ ($\ensuremath{\equiv}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{{E}_{s}}^{0}$), where ${{E}_{s}}^{0}$ is the soliton energy at $T=0$ K. The soliton density agrees with the classical statistical-mechanics results for ${T}_{\mathrm{cr}}>T\ensuremath{\gg}m$, if ${E}_{s}$ in the classical theory is replaced by the temperature-dependent one of the present theory.

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Classical aspects of quantum spin chains (abstract)

L. F. Lemmens, Wim J. M. de Jonge, Klaas Kopinga

A variational estimate of the free energy of a quantum spin chain based on the stochastic behavior of the quantization axes is proposed. It allows a description of the nonlinear excitations and quantum spin waves within the same framework. For an easy-plane ferromagnet with an external field in the plane it reveals that the nonlinear excitations (solitons) are predominantly described by the classical degrees of freedom. Considerable effort has been devoted to the theoretical description1 and experimental verification of the existence of nonlinear excitations. In this field magnetic chain systems have played an important part.2 Chain systems with an easy-plane anisotropy, such as (C6 H11 NH3 )CuBr3 (CHAB) and CsNiF3 , which are subjected to a symmetry breaking field, were found to be soliton bearing.3 Theoretically the description of the nonlinear effect is based on the mapping of the spin dynamics on a sine-Gordon model. Further research4 indicated that the interpretation of the thermodynamical properties of real systems in terms of the sine-Gordon model required however quantum and anisotropy corrections. Since the dipolar interactions between the spins in the chain are considered to be negligible, the direction of the spin chain in configuration space with respect to any preferred direction in spin space does not enter explicitly in the Hamiltonian. This makes it interesting to define a site-dependent z direction in spin space which makes an angle (Θn ,φn ) with the z direction in configuration space. The model Hamiltonian can then be written in terms of the spin operators defined with respect to the site-dependent quantization axis. The representation with equal quantization axis for all the sites is related to the representation with different quantization axes at each site by a rotation in spin space. The unitary transformation that describes the rotation contains the angles (Θn ,φn ), which we have treated as random variables. Based on this observation we have proposed a new variational approach for the quantum spin chain. We will outline the main results here. A full account is published elsewhere.5 In our approach the free energy of the system can be separated in a quantum part and a classical part. The free energy F of the chain is then approximated by an upper bound F<Fcl +Fqm , where βFcl =−ln[E(exp−βVcl )] and βFqm =−ln Tr(exp−β〈Hqm 〉). The first part is a configurational classical free energy, depending on the choice of the probability distribution for the quantization axes via the expectation E. The second contribution is the free energy of a modified quantum chain, whose parameters are classical averages and can be obtained from the configurational classical free energy. For easy-plane ferromagnetic chains, the nonlinear excitations are comprised in the classical part, whereas the quantum part contains predominantly linear excitations. For those thermodynamical quantities that are insensitive to the contribution of the quantum excitations, the chain is thermodynamically equivalent with a classical sine-Gordon system. The out-of-plane corrections are incorporated in the quantum part of the free energy. This behavior is corroborated experimentally by measurements of the excess heat capacity of CHAB for different magnetic fields with the same in-plane component.6 The validity of our approach is, however, not restricted to easy-plane ferromagnetic chains. Also for more complex systems with, for example, an orthorhombic or helical symmetry, the introduction of stochastic quantization axes can shed new light on some of the thermodynamical properties of these quantum systems in terms of their classical equivalent.

Journal of Applied Physics•May 1, 1990•0 citations
We study the quantum-statistical mechanics, at low temperatures, of a one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with two anisotropies. In the weak-coupling limit we determine the temperature dependences of the soliton energy and the soliton density. We have found that the leading correction to the sine-Gordon (SG) expression for the soliton density and the quantum soliton energy comes from the out-of-plane magnon mode, not present in the pure SG model. We also show that when an external magnetic field is applied, the chain supports a new type of kink, where the sublattices rotate in opposite directions.
Making use of thermal-Green's-function technique, we study the quantum-statistical mechanics of a sine-Gordon system in 1 + 1 dimensions. In the weak-coupling limit, the temperature dependences of the soliton energy, Es{E}_{s}Es​, the soliton inertial mass, and the soliton density are determined. At high temperatures (T>mT>mT>m, where mmm is the mass of the fundamental field), Es{E}_{s}Es​ decreases monotonically as the temperature increases, and Es{E}_{s}Es​ jumps to zero around T=TcrT={T}_{\mathrm{cr}}T=Tcr​ ($\ensuremath{\equiv}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{{E}_{s}}^{0}$), where Es0{{E}_{s}}^{0}Es​0 is the soliton energy at T=0T=0T=0 K. The soliton density agrees with the classical statistical-mechanics results for ${T}_{\mathrm{cr}}>T\ensuremath{\gg}m$, if Es{E}_{s}Es​ in the classical theory is replaced by the temperature-dependent one of the present theory.
The spin configurations of a one-dimensional, weakly anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet were examined by means of an importance sampling Monte Carlo simulation. The spin interactions display weak anisotropies of the same form in each of the orthogonal XY and XZ planes. This allows for two soliton modes, with one in each of the planes. The soliton density within the XZ plane has been determined as a function of the relative strengths of the two anisotropies as well as of temperature. These results are compared with theoretical analysis of similar systems.
We investigate the quantum corrections to the energy of the static soliton in the XY\mathrm{XY}XY-like ferromagnetic spin chain in a symmetry-breaking external field. We apply a semiclassical continuum approximation which allows us to treat the leading-order deviations from idealized planar behavior. The equivalent quantum-field theory, an extension of the quantum sine-Gordon theory, is renormalized and its soliton energy is shown to depend strongly on this deviation. The quantum-field-theoretical renormalization, however, does not affect the energy of the magnetic soliton, which is calculated to leading order in 1S\frac{1}{S}S1​, where SSS is the spin length. The sine-Gordon limit is found applicable only for very large anisotropies; for realistic anisotropies, the reduction of the soliton energy owing to quantum effects is enhanced and depends only on SSS. A quantitative calculation for the S=1S=1S=1 system CsNiF3{\mathrm{F}}_{3}F3​ is likely to require higher-order terms in 1S\frac{1}{S}S1​.
Static correlation functions for the sine-Gordon chain and related one-dimensional models are described in terms of the transfer operator formalism. The characteristic signatures of kink-solitons within this formalism are discussed and classes of 'kink-sensitive' and 'kink-insensitive' correlations are emphasised. Special attention is given to the integrated structure factor integral S(q, omega )d Omega and the consistency of several calculations and models of S(q, omega is addressed. Possible applications to the interpretation of scattering experiments in quasi-one-dimensional ferro- and antiferromagnetic materials such as CsNiF 3 and (CD 3 ) 4 NMnCl 3 are discussed.
A theoretical approach to the one-dimensional isotropic Heisenberg model at low temperatures is presented which uses rotationally invariant combinations of spin operators only and is thus adapted to treat correctly effects resulting from the absence of long-range order in these systems. Analytic expressions for space- and time-dependent spin correlation functions are given for small values of TJS2\frac{T}{J{S}^{2}}JS2T​ and 1S\frac{1}{S}S1​. The results include an expression for the spin correlation function in the antiferromagnetic ground state and a discussion of changes in line shape, due to quantum effects, for short-wavelength magnons as observed in neutron scattering experiments.
A variational estimate of the free energy of a quantum spin chain based on the stochastic behavior of the quantization axes is proposed. It allows a description of the nonlinear excitations and quantum spin waves within the same framework. For an easy-plane ferromagnet with an external field in the plane it reveals that the nonlinear excitations (solitons) are predominantly described by the classical degrees of freedom. Considerable effort has been devoted to the theoretical description1 and experimental verification of the existence of nonlinear excitations. In this field magnetic chain systems have played an important part.2 Chain systems with an easy-plane anisotropy, such as (C6 H11 NH3 )CuBr3 (CHAB) and CsNiF3 , which are subjected to a symmetry breaking field, were found to be soliton bearing.3 Theoretically the description of the nonlinear effect is based on the mapping of the spin dynamics on a sine-Gordon model. Further research4 indicated that the interpretation of the thermodynamical properties of real systems in terms of the sine-Gordon model required however quantum and anisotropy corrections. Since the dipolar interactions between the spins in the chain are considered to be negligible, the direction of the spin chain in configuration space with respect to any preferred direction in spin space does not enter explicitly in the Hamiltonian. This makes it interesting to define a site-dependent z direction in spin space which makes an angle (Θn ,φn ) with the z direction in configuration space. The model Hamiltonian can then be written in terms of the spin operators defined with respect to the site-dependent quantization axis. The representation with equal quantization axis for all the sites is related to the representation with different quantization axes at each site by a rotation in spin space. The unitary transformation that describes the rotation contains the angles (Θn ,φn ), which we have treated as random variables. Based on this observation we have proposed a new variational approach for the quantum spin chain. We will outline the main results here. A full account is published elsewhere.5 In our approach the free energy of the system can be separated in a quantum part and a classical part. The free energy F of the chain is then approximated by an upper bound F<Fcl +Fqm , where βFcl =−ln[E(exp−βVcl )] and βFqm =−ln Tr(exp−β〈Hqm 〉). The first part is a configurational classical free energy, depending on the choice of the probability distribution for the quantization axes via the expectation E. The second contribution is the free energy of a modified quantum chain, whose parameters are classical averages and can be obtained from the configurational classical free energy. For easy-plane ferromagnetic chains, the nonlinear excitations are comprised in the classical part, whereas the quantum part contains predominantly linear excitations. For those thermodynamical quantities that are insensitive to the contribution of the quantum excitations, the chain is thermodynamically equivalent with a classical sine-Gordon system. The out-of-plane corrections are incorporated in the quantum part of the free energy. This behavior is corroborated experimentally by measurements of the excess heat capacity of CHAB for different magnetic fields with the same in-plane component.6 The validity of our approach is, however, not restricted to easy-plane ferromagnetic chains. Also for more complex systems with, for example, an orthorhombic or helical symmetry, the introduction of stochastic quantization axes can shed new light on some of the thermodynamical properties of these quantum systems in terms of their classical equivalent.