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arXiv:cond-mat/0501580 · Physical Review B

Geometric criticality for transitions between plaquette phases in integer-spin kagome XXZ antiferromagnets

Cenke Xu, Joel E. Moore

Published Aug 31, 2005• 11 citations
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Abstract

The phase diagram of the uniaxially anisotropic $s=1$ antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice includes a critical line exactly described by the classical three-color model. This line is distinct from the standard geometric classical criticality that appears in the classical limit $(s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})$ of the two-dimensional XY model; the $s=1$ geometric $T=0$ critical line separates two unconventional plaquette-ordered phases that survive to nonzero temperature. The experimentally important correlations at finite temperature and the nature of the transitions into these ordered phases are obtained using the mapping to the three-color model and a combination of perturbation theory and a variational ansatz for the ordered phases. The ordered phases show sixfold symmetry breaking and are similar to phases proposed for the honeycomb lattice dimer model and $s=1∕2$ XXZ model. The same mapping and phase transition can be realized also for integer spins $s\ensuremath{\geqslant}2$ but then require strong on-site anisotropy in the Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.72.064455

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The phase diagram of the uniaxially anisotropic s=1s=1s=1 antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice includes a critical line exactly described by the classical three-color model. This line is distinct from the standard geometric classical criticality that appears in the classical limit (s\ensuremath→\ensuremath∞)(s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty})(s\ensuremath→\ensuremath∞) of the two-dimensional XY model; the s=1s=1s=1 geometric T=0T=0T=0 critical line separates two unconventional plaquette-ordered phases that survive to nonzero temperature. The experimentally important correlations at finite temperature and the nature of the transitions into these ordered phases are obtained using the mapping to the three-color model and a combination of perturbation theory and a variational ansatz for the ordered phases. The ordered phases show sixfold symmetry breaking and are similar to phases proposed for the honeycomb lattice dimer model and s=1∕2s=1∕2s=1∕2 XXZ model. The same mapping and phase transition can be realized also for integer spins s\ensuremath⩾2s\ensuremath{\geqslant}2s\ensuremath⩾2 but then require strong on-site anisotropy in the Hamiltonian.
The phase diagram of the XXZXXZXXZ spin-1 quantum magnet on the kagome lattice is studied for all cases where the zzz-component nearest-neighbor spin interaction Jz{J}_{z}Jz​ is antiferromagnetic. Besides Jz{J}_{z}Jz​ and the nearest-neighbor in-plane spin interaction Jxy{J}_{xy}Jxy​, the system is also parametrized by an on-site anisotropic term D(Sz)2D{({S}^{z})}^{2}D(Sz)2. In the zero magnetic field case, the six previously introduced phases, found using various methods, are the nondegenerate gapped photon phase, which breaks no space symmetry or spin symmetry; the sixfold degenerate phase with plaquette order, which breaks both time-reversal symmetry and translational symmetry; the ``superfluid'' (ferromagnetic) phase with an in-plane global U(1) symmetry broken when Jxy<0{J}_{xy}<0Jxy​<0; the $\sqrt{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{3}$ order when Jxy>0{J}_{xy}>0Jxy​>0; the nematic phase when D<0D<0D<0 and large; and a phase with resonating dimers on each hexagon. We obtain all of these phases and partial information about their quantum phase transitions in a single framework by studying condensation of defects in the sixfold plaquette phases. The transition between nematic phase and the sixfold degenerate plaquette phase is potentially an unconventional second-order critical point. In the case of a nonzero magnetic field along $\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{z}$, another ordered phase with translation symmetry broken is opened up in the nematic phase. Due to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry by the field, a supersolid phase emerges between the sixfold plaquette order and the superfluid phase. This phase diagram might be accessible in nickel compounds, organic compound $m\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{MPYNN}∙\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{F}}_{4}$, or optical lattices of atoms with three degenerate states on every site.
We analyze the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 XXZ model on the kagome lattice at finite external magnetic field with the help of a non-perturbative zero-temperature renormalization group (RG) technique. The exact nature of the ground and excited state properties (e.g. gapped or gapless spectrum etc) of this system are still debated. Approximate methods have typically been adopted towards understanding the low-energy spectrum. Following the work of Kumar et al (2014 Phys. Rev. B 90 174409), we use a Jordan–Wigner transformation to map the spin problem into one of spinless fermions (spinons) in the presence of a statistical gauge field, and with nearest-neighbor interactions. While the work of Kumar et al was confined mostly to the plateau at 1/3-filling (magnetization per site) in the XY regime, we analyze the role of inter-spinon interactions in shaping the phases around this plateau in the entire XXZ model. The RG phase diagram obtained contains three spin liquid phases whose position is determined as a function of the exchange anisotropy and the energy scale for fluctuations arising from spinon scattering. Two of these spins liquids are topologically ordered states of matter with gapped, degenerate states on the torus. The gap for one of these phases corresponds to the one-spinon band gap of the Azbel–Hofstadter spectrum for the XY part of the Hamiltonian, while the other arises from two-spinon interactions. The Heisenberg point of this problem is found to lie within the interaction gapped spin liquid phase, in broad agreement with a recent experimental finding. The third phase is an algebraic spin liquid with a gapless Dirac spectrum for spinon excitations, and possess properties that show departures from the Fermi liquid paradigm. The three phase boundaries correspond to critical theories, and meet at a SU (2)-symmetric multicritical point. This special critical point agrees well with the gap-closing transition point predicted by Kumar et al . We discuss the relevance of our findings to various recent experiments, as well as results obtained from other theoretical analyses.
A spin-1 Heisenberg model on trimerized kagome lattice is studied by doing a low-energy bosonic theory in terms of plaquette triplons defined on its triangular unit cells. The model considered has an intratriangle antiferromagnetic exchange interaction JJJ (set to 1) and two intertriangle couplings ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}>0$ (nearest neighbor) and ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ (next nearest neighbor; of both signs). The triplon analysis performed on this model investigates the stability of the trimerized singlet ground state (which is exact in the absence of intertriangle couplings) in the ${J}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}{J}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ plane. It gives a quantum phase diagram that has two gapless antiferromagnetically ordered phases separated by the spin-gapped trimerized singlet phase. The trimerized singlet ground state is found to be stable on ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}=0$ line (the nearest-neighbor case), and on both sides of it for ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}\ensuremath{\ne}0$, in an extended region bounded by the critical lines of transition to the gapless antiferromagnetic phases. The gapless phase in the negative ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ region has a coplanar ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ antiferromagnetic order with $\sqrt{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{3}$ structure. In this phase, all the magnetic moments are of equal length, and the angle between any two of them on a triangle is exactly ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$. The magnetic lattice in this case has a unit cell consisting of three triangles. The other gapless phase, in the positive ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ region, is found to exhibit a different coplanar antiferromagnetic order with ordering wave vector q=(0,0)\mathbf{q}=(0,0)q=(0,0). Here, two magnetic moments in a triangle are of the same magnitude, but shorter than the third. While the angle between two short moments is ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\ensuremath{-}2\ensuremath{\delta}$, it is ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}+\ensuremath{\delta}$ between a short and the long one. Only when ${J}^{\ensuremath{''}}={J}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, their magnitudes become equal and the relative angles ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$. The magnetic lattice in this q=(0,0)\mathbf{q}=(0,0)q=(0,0) phase has the translational symmetry of the kagome lattice with triangular unit cells of reduced (isosceles) symmetry. This reduction in the point-group symmetry is found to show up as a difference in the intensities of certain Bragg peaks, whose ratio ${I}_{(1,0)}/{I}_{(0,1)}=4{sin}^{2}(\frac{\ensuremath{\pi}}{6}+\ensuremath{\delta})$ presents an experimental measure of the deviation $\ensuremath{\delta}$ from the ${120}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ order.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1/21/21/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the square-kagome lattice using infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS). By systematically varying the ratio of exchange couplings on triangular and square plaquettes, we establish a complete quantum phase diagram in the thermodynamic limit. In the intermediate-coupling regime, we identify four distinct nonmagnetic phases that are unambiguously characterized as valence-bond crystals (VBCs) by their symmetry-inequivalent patterns of strong and weak spin-spin correlations. These include a plaquette crossed-dimer VBC, a loop-six VBC stabilized around the isotropic point, a generalized pinwheel VBC with reduced rotational symmetry, and a decorated loop-six VBC proximate to ferrimagnetic order. We determine the phase boundaries using a combination of bond-resolved correlation functions, entanglement entropy, and magnetization. For transitions not accompanied by sharp entanglement signatures, we extract the spin gap from finite-field simulations, allowing us to distinguish gapped and gapless VBC phases. At larger coupling ratios, the system undergoes transitions into imperfect and perfect ferrimagnetic states. Our results resolve long-standing ambiguities in the square-kagome Heisenberg model and provide a quantitatively reliable reference for future theoretical and experimental studies of frustrated quantum magnets.
By using the density matrix renormalization group approach, we study spin-liquid phases of spin-1/2 XXZ kagome antiferromagnets. We find that the emergence of the spin-liquid phase is independent of the anisotropy of the XXZ interaction. In particular, the two extreme limits-the Ising (a strong S^{z} interaction) and the XY (zero S^{z} interaction)-host the same spin-liquid phases as the isotropic Heisenberg model. Both a time-reversal-invariant spin liquid and a chiral spin liquid with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking are obtained. We show that they evolve continuously into each other by tuning the second- and the third-neighbor interactions. And last, we discuss possible implications of our results for the nature of spin liquid in nearest-neighbor XXZ kagome antiferromagnets, including the nearest-neighbor spin-1/2 kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model.
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