We study Heisenberg spin-1/2 and spin-1 chains with alternating ferromagnetic (
J1F) and antiferromagnetic (
J1A) nearest-neighbor interactions and ferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interaction (
J2F). In this model frustration is induced by the non-zero
J2F and the effect of dimerization is realized by changing the strength of
J1A for a fixed value of
J1F. The model with site spin
s behaves like a Haldane spin chain with site spin 2
s in the limit of vanishing
J2F and large
J1F/J1A. We show that the exact ground state of the model can be found along a line in the parameter space. The phase diagram in the space of
J1A−J2F is determined using numerical techniques complemented by some analytical calculations. A number of quantities, including the ground state spin, energy gap, structure factor, entanglement entropy, and zero temperature magnetization, are studied to understand the complete phase diagram. An interesting and application-wise important feature of this model is that it exhibits a macroscopic magnetization jump in the presence of a magnetic field; we study this using an effective Hamiltonian.
The ground-state phases of alternating-bond spin-1 diamond chains are investigated. Each ground state consists of an array of spin clusters separated by singlet dimers owing to an infinite number of local conservation laws. If no singlet dimers are present, the ground state is equivalent to that of a spin chain with infinite length.For strong frustration, we find a series of quantum phase transitions as in the case of alternating-bond mixed diamond chains with spins 1 and 1/2. For intermediate frustration, we find the nonmagnetic Haldane or dimer phases according to whether the bond alternation is weak or strong. For weak frustration and weak bond alternation, we find the ferrimagnetic states with spontaneous magnetizations
m=1/6 and 1/3 per site. The ferrimagnetic state with
m=1/6 is accompanied by a spontaneous translational symmetry breakdown. This phase vanishes for strong bond alternation.
We present a certain class of two-dimensional frustrated quantum Heisenberg spin systems with multiple ring exchange interactions which are rigorously demonstrated to have quantum disordered ground states without magnetic long-range order. The systems considered in this paper are
s=1∕2 antiferromagnets on a honeycomb and square lattices, and an
s=1 antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice. We find that for a particular set of parameter values, the ground state is a short-range resonating valence bond state or a valence bond crystal state. It is shown that these systems are closely related to the quantum dimer model introduced by Rokhsar and Kivelson as an effective low-energy theory for valence bond states.