arXiv:cond-mat/0505685 · Physical Review B
Charge order induced by electron-lattice interaction in NaV2O5
Bernhard Edegger, Hans Gerd Evertz, R. M. Noack
Abstract
We present density matrix renormalization group calculations of the ground-state properties of quarter-filled ladders including static electron-lattice coupling. Isolated ladders and two coupled ladders are considered, with model parameters obtained from band-structure calculations for ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ensuremath{'}}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Na}{\mathrm{V}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{5}$. The relevant Holstein coupling to the lattice causes static out-of-plane lattice distortions, which appear concurrently with a charge-ordered state and which exhibit the same zigzag pattern observed in experiments. The inclusion of electron-lattice coupling drastically reduces the critical nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion ${V}_{c}$ needed to obtain the charge-ordered state. No spin gap is present in the ordered phase. The charge ordering is driven by the Coulomb repulsion and the electron-lattice interaction. With electron-lattice interaction, coupling two ladders has virtually no effect on ${V}_{c}$ or on the characteristics of the charge-ordered phase. At $V=0.46\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$, a value consistent with previous estimates, the lattice distortion, charge gap, charge-order parameter, and the effective spin coupling are in good agreement with experimental data for $\mathrm{Na}{\mathrm{V}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{5}$.