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arXiv:cond-mat/0404279 · Physical Review B

Quantum kagomé antiferromagnet in a magnetic field: Low-lying nonmagnetic excitations versus valence-bond crystal order

D. C. Cabra, Marcelo D. Grynberg, P. C. W. Holdsworth, A. Honecker, Pierre Pujol, Johannes Richter, D. Schmalfuß, J. Schulenburg

Published Apr 27, 2005• 72 citations
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Abstract

We study the ground state properties of a quantum antiferromagnet on the kagom\'e lattice in the presence of a magnetic field, paying particular attention to the stability of the plateau at magnetization $1∕3$ of saturation and the nature of its ground state. We discuss fluctuations around classical ground states and argue that quantum and classical calculations at the harmonic level do not lead to the same result in contrast to the zero-field case. For spin $S=1∕2$ we find a magnetic gap below which an exponential number of nonmagnetic excitations are present. Moreover, such non-magnetic excitations also have a (much smaller) gap above the threefold degenerate ground state. We provide evidence that the ground state has long-range order of valence-bond crystal type with nine spins in the unit cell.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.71.144420

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We study the ground state properties of a quantum antiferromagnet on the kagom'e lattice in the presence of a magnetic field, paying particular attention to the stability of the plateau at magnetization 1∕31∕31∕3 of saturation and the nature of its ground state. We discuss fluctuations around classical ground states and argue that quantum and classical calculations at the harmonic level do not lead to the same result in contrast to the zero-field case. For spin S=1∕2S=1∕2S=1∕2 we find a magnetic gap below which an exponential number of nonmagnetic excitations are present. Moreover, such non-magnetic excitations also have a (much smaller) gap above the threefold degenerate ground state. We provide evidence that the ground state has long-range order of valence-bond crystal type with nine spins in the unit cell.
We investigate the spin-1 kagome-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet using large-scale Lanczos diagonalization and the finite-temperature Lanczos method. The zero-temperature magnetization process exhibits plateaus at m = 0 , 1 / 3 , 7 / 9 , and 8 / 9 , where m is the normalized magnetization. The m = 0 plateau is identified as a trimer valence-bond-crystal state, while the high-field plateaus at m = 7 / 9 and 8 / 9 are identified as magnon crystals. In particular, the m = 8 / 9 plateau corresponds to the exact localized-magnon crystal state. A smoothed zero-temperature magnetization curve constructed using the Gaussian-kernel smoothing method indicates magnetization jumps at the lower-field edge of the m = 1 / 3 plateau and at the upper-field edges of the m = 7 / 9 and 8 / 9 plateaus. At finite temperatures, the specific heat exhibits a double-peak structure with peaks around T / J ≃ 0.1 and T / J ≃ 1.1 , and the low-temperature peak may be related to trimer valence-bond-crystal ordering. The finite-temperature magnetization curves show that the m = 1 / 3 plateau remains visible at low temperatures, whereas the high-field plateaus are rapidly smeared out by thermal effects. These results provide benchmark data for thermodynamic and high-field magnetization measurements in candidate spin-1 kagome-lattice materials.
We investigate the ground state of a spin-1/2 kagome antiferromagnet at the 1/9 magnetization plateau, focusing primarily on six types of valence bond crystal (VBC) distortions. Among six types of VBC distortions, type 1 consistently exhibits the lowest ground-state energy. Analysis of the second derivative of the energy with respect to the distortion strength JdJ_{\rm d}Jd​ using exact diagonalization reveals that, as the system size approaches the thermodynamic limit, the type 1 VBC state remains stable down to Jd=1J_{\rm d} = 1Jd​=1, corresponding to the undistorted kagome lattice. Perturbation theory further supports the stability of the type 1 VBC state, providing energy values that agree with exact diagonalization results within 3%. We also explore the possibility that other types of VBC distortions could become the ground state, but type 1 VBC still exhibited the lowest energy. These findings suggest that the ground state of the 1/9 plateau in the kagome lattice is the type 1 VBC state.
Using series expansions around the dimer limit, we find that the ground state of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice appears to be a valence bond crystal (VBC) with a 36 site unit cell, and ground-state energy per site $E=\ensuremath{-}0.433\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$. It consists of a honeycomb lattice of ``perfect hexagons.'' The energy difference between the ground state and other ordered states with the maximum number of perfect hexagons, such as a stripe-ordered state, is of order 0.001J0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}0.001J. The expansion is also done for the 36 site system with periodic boundary conditions; its energy per site is $0.005\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}$ lower than the infinite system, consistent with exact diagonalization results. Every unit cell of the VBC has two singlet states whose degeneracy is not lifted to sixth order in the expansion. We estimate this energy difference to be less than 0.001J0.001\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{J}0.001J. The dimerization order parameter is found to be robust. Two leading orders of perturbation theory give lowest triplet excitations to be dispersionless and confined to the perfect hexagons.
This paper is concerned with physics of the low-energy singlet excitations found to exist below the spin gap in numerical studies of the Kagome lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Insight into the nature of these excitations is obtained by exploiting an approximate mapping to a fully frustrated transverse-field Ising model on the dual dice lattice. This Ising model is shown to possess at least two phases---an ordered phase that also breaks translational symmetry with a large unit cell, and a paramagnetic phase. The former is argued to be a likely candidate for the ground state of the original Kagome magnet which thereby exhibits a specific pattern of dimer ordering with a large unit cell. Comparisons with available numerical results are made.
A proposed ground state for the kagome lattice Heisenberg model consists of a valence bond crystal (VBC) with a 36-site unit cell. We calculate the low-lying triplet and singlet excitations in the VBC phase for the infinite-lattice model and for the 36-site cluster. For the infinite lattice, the lowest triplet excitation is found to have a spin gap of approximately $0.08\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02J$ and a bandwidth of only about 0.01J0.01J0.01J. For the 36-site cluster, which consists of a single unit cell with periodic boundary conditions, there are substantial finite-size effects: the spin gap there is estimated to be approximately 0.2J0.2J0.2J, which is close to the exact diagonalization result of 0.164J0.164J0.164J. The triplet excitations attract one another and form many bound states in the spin-singlet channel. We find a large number of such bound states for the 36-site cluster, many of which appear to lie below the spin gap, which is again in agreement with the results from exact diagonalization.
One of the most promising candidate ground states for the quantum antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice is the valence bond solid (VBS) with a 36-site unit cell. We present a theory of triplet excitation spectra about this ground state using bond operator formalism. In particular we obtain dispersions of all 18 triplet modes in the reduced Brillouin zone. In the bond operator mean-field theory, it is found that a large number of triplet modes are nondispersive. In particular, the lowest triplet excitation is nondispersive and degenerate with a dispersive mode at the zone center. Away from the zone center, the lowest triplet is separated from two other flat modes by a small energy gap. Quantum fluctuations are considered by taking into account scattering processes of two triplets and their bound-state formation, which leads to a downward renormalization of the lowest spin triplet gap. The dispersion of the lowest triplet excitation in the VBS state is compared with the dispersive lower bound of the triplet continuum expected in competing spin liquid phases. Implications to future neutron-scattering experiments are discussed.