Impurity effects of spin-gap systems by the exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group

Guillaume Roux, Steven R. White, Sylvain Capponi +2 more

The effect of a ring exchange on doped two-leg ladders is investigated combining exact diagonalization (ED) and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) computations. We focus on the nature and weights of the low-energy magnetic excitations and on superconducting pairing. The stability with respect to this cyclic term of a remarkable resonant mode originating from a hole pair-magnon bound state is examined. We also find that, near the zero-doping critical point separating rung-singlet and dimerized phases, doping reopens a spin gap.

隆嗣 益田

Masanori Kohno, Xiao Hu

Significant decrease of spontaneous magnetization in frustrated one-dimensional ferro- and ferrimagnets due to nonmagnetic impurities is predicted. Using the density-matrix renormalization group method and the exact diagonalization method, we confirm that the total spin can vanish due to a single impurity in finite chains. Introducing the picture of magnetic domain inversion, we numerically investigate the impurity-density dependence of magnetization. In particular, we show that even with an infinitesimal density of impurities, the magnetization in the ground state is reduced by about 40% from that of the corresponding pure system. Conditions for the materials which may show this anomalous impurity effect are formulated.

Walter Hofstetter

Guangyong Xu

Arthur Lavarélo, Guillaume Roux, Nicolas Laflorencie

The magnetic responses of a spin-$1/2$ ladder doped with nonmagnetic impurities are studied combining both analytical and numerical methods. The regime where frustration induces incommensurability is taken into account. Several improvements are made on the results of the seminal work by Sigrist and Furusaki [M. Sigrist and A. Furusaki, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 65, 2385 (1996)] and deviations from the Brillouin magnetization curve due to interactions are also analyzed. We first discuss the magnetic profile around a single impurity and the effective interactions between impurities within the bond-operator mean-field theory. The results are compared to density-matrix renormalization group calculations. In particular, these quantities are shown to be sensitive to the transition to the incommensurate regime. We then focus on the behavior of the zero-field susceptibility through an effective Curie constant. At zero temperature, we give doping-dependent corrections to the results of Sigrist and Furusaki on general bipartite lattices and compute exactly the distribution of ladder clusters due to chain breaking effects. Solving the effective model with exact diagonalization and quantum Monte Carlo simulations gives the temperature dependence of the Curie constant. Its high-temperature limit is understood within a random dimer model, while the low-temperature tail is compatible with a real-space renormalization group scenario. Interestingly, solving the full microscopic model does not show a plateau corresponding to the saturation of the impurities in isotropic ladders. The second magnetic response that is analyzed is the magnetic curve. Below fields of the order of the spin gap, the magnetization process is controlled by the physics of interacting impurity spins. The random dimer model is shown to capture the bulk of the curve, accounting for the deviation from a Brillouin behavior due to interactions. The effective model calculations agree rather well with density-matrix renormalization group calculations at zero temperature and with quantum Monte Carlo simulations at finite temperature. In all, the effect of incommensurability does not display a strong qualitative effect on both the magnetic susceptibility and the magnetic curve. Consequences for experiments on the BiCu${}_{2}$PO${}_{6}$ compound and other spin-gapped materials are briefly mentioned.