Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/9508047 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Antiferromagnetic spin ladders: Crossover between spin S =1/2 and S =1 chains

David G. Shelton, A. A. Nersesyan, Alexei M. Tsvelik

Published Apr 1, 1996• 368 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a model of two weakly coupled isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains with an antiferromagnetic coupling along the chains (spin ladder). It is shown that the system always has a spectral gap and the lower lying excitations are triplets. For the case of identical chains the model in the continuous limit is shown to be equivalent to four decoupled noncritical Ising models with the ${\mathit{Z}}_{2}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) symmetry. For this case we obtain the exact expressions for asymptotics of spin-spin correlation functions. It is shown that when the chains have different exchange integrals ${\mathit{J}}_{1}$\ensuremath{\gg}${\mathit{J}}_{2}$ the spectrum at low energies is described by the O(3)-nonlinear \ensuremath{\sigma} model. We discuss the topological order parameter related to the gap formation and give a detailed description of the dynamical magnetic susceptibility. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.53.8521

Related papers

Excitation spectrum of Heisenberg spin ladders

Ted Barnes, Elbio R. Dagotto, José A. Riera +1 more

Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin ``ladders'' (two coupled spin chains) are low-dimensional magnetic systems which for S=1/2 interpolate between half-integer-spin chains, when the chains are decoupled, and effective integer-spin one-dimensional chains in the strong-coupling limit. The spin-1/2 ladder may be realized in nature by vanadyl pyrophosphate, (VO${)}_{2}$${\mathrm{P}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$. In this paper we apply strong-coupling perturbation theory, spin-wave theory, Lanczos techniques, and a Monte Carlo method to determine the ground-state energy and the low-lying excitation spectrum of the ladder. We find evidence of a nonzero spin gap for all interchain couplings ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$>0. A band of spin-triplet excitations above the gap is also analyzed. These excitations are unusual for an antiferromagnet, since their long-wavelength dispersion relation behaves as (k-${\mathit{k}}_{0}$${)}^{2}$ (in the strong-coupling limit ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$\ensuremath{\gg}J, where J is the in-chain antiferromagnetic coupling). Their band is folded, with a minimum energy at ${\mathit{k}}_{0}$=\ensuremath{\pi}, and a maximum between ${\mathit{k}}_{1}$=\ensuremath{\pi}/2 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=0) and 0 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=\ensuremath{\infty}). We also give numerical results for the dynamical structure factor S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}), which can be determined in neutron scattering experiments. Finally, possible experimental techniques for studying the excitation spectrum are discussed.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Feb 1, 1993•413 citations

Asymmetric spin- 12 two-leg ladders: Analytical studies supported by exact diagonalization, DMRG, and Monte Carlo simulations

D. N. Aristov, C. Brünger, Fakher F. Assaad +4 more

We consider asymmetric spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ two-leg ladders with nonequal antiferromagnetic (AF) couplings ${J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ and $\ensuremath{\kappa}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ along legs $(\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\le}1)$ and ferromagnetic rung coupling, ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. This model is characterized by a gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ in the spectrum of spin excitations. We show that in the large ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ limit this gap is equivalent to the Haldane gap for the AF spin-1 chain, irrespective of the asymmetry of the ladder. The behavior of the gap at small rung coupling falls in two different universality classes. The first class, which is best understood from the case of the conventional symmetric ladder at $\ensuremath{\kappa}=1$, admits a linear scaling for the spin gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. The second class appears for a strong asymmetry of the coupling along legs, $\ensuremath{\kappa}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}⪡{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}⪡{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ and is characterized by two energy scales: the exponentially small spin gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\text{ }\text{exp}(\ensuremath{-}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}/{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}})$, and the bandwidth of the low-lying excitations induced by a Suhl-Nakamura indirect exchange $\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{2}/{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$. We report numerical results obtained by exact diagonalization, density-matrix renormalization group and quantum Monte Carlo simulations for the spin gap and various spin correlation functions. Our data indicate that the behavior of the string order parameter, characterizing the hidden AF order in Haldane phase, is different in the limiting cases of weak and strong asymmetries. On the basis of the numerical data, we propose a low-energy theory of effective spin-1 variables, pertaining to large blocks on a decimated lattice.

arXiv:1008.1644•Physical Review B•Nov 8, 2010•13 citations

Dynamical transition from triplets to spinon excitations: A series expansion study of the J1−J2−δ spin- 12 chain

Rajiv R. P. Singh, Zheng Weihong

We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with alternating nearest neighbor interactions ${J}_{1}(1+\ensuremath{\delta})$ and ${J}_{1}(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta})$ and a uniform second neighbor interaction ${J}_{2}=y(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta})$ by series expansions around the limit of decoupled dimers $(\ensuremath{\delta}=1).$ By extrapolating to $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$ and tuning y, we study the critical point separating the power-law and spontaneously dimerized phases of the spin-1/2 antiferromagnet. We then focus on the disorder line $y=0.5,$ $0<~\ensuremath{\delta}<~1,$ where the ground states are known exactly. We calculate the triplet excitation spectrum, their spectral weights, and wave vector dependent static susceptibility along this line. It is well known that as $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\delta}}0,$ the spin gap is still nonzero but the triplets are replaced by spinons as the elementary excitations. We study this dynamical transition by analyzing the series for the spectral weight and the static susceptibility. In particular, we show that the spectral weight for the triplets vanishes and the static spin susceptibility changes from a simple pole at imaginary wave vectors to a branch cut at the transition.

arXiv:cond-mat/9811028•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Apr 15, 1999•21 citations

Quantum spin ladders atT=0 and at high temperatures studied by series expansions

J. Oitmaa, Rajiv R. P. Singh, Weihong Zheng

We have carried out extensive series studies, at T=0 and at high temperatures, of two-chain and three-chain spin-half ladder systems with antiferromagnetic intrachain and both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interchain couplings. Our results confirm the existence of a gap in the two-chain Heisenberg ladders for all nonzero values of the interchain couplings. Complete dispersion relations for the spin-wave excitations are computed. For three-chain systems, our results are consistent with a gapless spectrum. We also calculate the uniform magnetic susceptibility and specific heat as a function of temperature. We find that as T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0, for the two-chain system the uniform susceptibility goes rapidly to zero, whereas for the three-chain system it approaches a finite value. These results are compared in detail with previous studies of finite systems. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

arXiv:cond-mat/9602055•Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Jul 1, 1996•62 citations

One-dimensional spin liquids: spin ladder and spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain

Alexei M. Tsvelik

The spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain is an interesting object. First of all, as we have already discussed in Part III, spin chains with integer and half-integer spins have very different low energy properties. The results of Chapter 16 suggest that chains with integer spin have a spectral gap which is generated dynamically. The fact that there are many experimental realizations of quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnets with S = 1 makes the situation even more interesting. The most well studied compound is Ni(C 2 H 8 N 2 ) 2 NO 2 (ClO 4 ), abbreviated as NENP. Localized spins belong to magnetic Ni ions and all the other ingredients are necessary just to arrange them into well separated chains. The experiments show that there is indeed a spectral gap (Aijro et al. , 1989; Renard et al. , 1987; see Fig. 36.1). This gap is not very small in comparison with the bandwidth, but one can still hope that the continuum description is good enough. The Monte Carlo simulations give for the spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain the ratio of the correlation length to the lattice spacing ξ/ a = 6.2 (Nomura, 1989) which can still be treated as a large number. There is another intriguing fact about the S =1 Heisenberg chain which makes it attractive for a theorist. It is the presence of a hidden, so-called topological order. This feature puts this theory in a much broader context of spin liquids , magnetically disordered systems with a hidden order. Spin ladder The spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain can be described as a limiting case of two ferromagnetically coupled S = 1/2 chains. The problem of coupled chains (so-called spin ladders ) is interesting in its own right.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Nov 20, 2003•0 citations

Strong-coupling expansions for antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-one-half ladders

Martin Reigrotzki, Hirokazu Tsunetsugu, Thomas Maurice Rice

The properties of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg S= 1/2 ladders with two, three and four chains are expanded in the ratio of the intrachain and interchain coupling constants. A simple mapping procedure is introduced to relate the four- and two-chain ladders, which keeps to moderate values of the expansion parameters. A second-order calculation of the spin gap to the lowest triplet excitation in the two- and four-chain ladders is found to be quite accurate, even at the isotropic point where the couplings are equal. Similar expansions and mapping procedures are presented for the three-chain ladders, which are in the same universality class as single chains.

arXiv:cond-mat/9408023•Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Oct 24, 1994•79 citations
We study a model of two weakly coupled isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains with an antiferromagnetic coupling along the chains (spin ladder). It is shown that the system always has a spectral gap and the lower lying excitations are triplets. For the case of identical chains the model in the continuous limit is shown to be equivalent to four decoupled noncritical Ising models with the Z2{\mathit{Z}}_{2}Z2​\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2) symmetry. For this case we obtain the exact expressions for asymptotics of spin-spin correlation functions. It is shown that when the chains have different exchange integrals J1{\mathit{J}}_{1}J1​\ensuremath{\gg}J2{\mathit{J}}_{2}J2​ the spectrum at low energies is described by the O(3)-nonlinear \ensuremath{\sigma} model. We discuss the topological order parameter related to the gap formation and give a detailed description of the dynamical magnetic susceptibility. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Heisenberg antiferromagnetic spin ``ladders'' (two coupled spin chains) are low-dimensional magnetic systems which for S=1/2 interpolate between half-integer-spin chains, when the chains are decoupled, and effective integer-spin one-dimensional chains in the strong-coupling limit. The spin-1/2 ladder may be realized in nature by vanadyl pyrophosphate, (VO)2{)}_{2})2​P2{\mathrm{P}}_{2}P2​O7{\mathrm{O}}_{7}O7​. In this paper we apply strong-coupling perturbation theory, spin-wave theory, Lanczos techniques, and a Monte Carlo method to determine the ground-state energy and the low-lying excitation spectrum of the ladder. We find evidence of a nonzero spin gap for all interchain couplings ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$>0. A band of spin-triplet excitations above the gap is also analyzed. These excitations are unusual for an antiferromagnet, since their long-wavelength dispersion relation behaves as (k-k0{\mathit{k}}_{0}k0​)2{)}^{2})2 (in the strong-coupling limit ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$\ensuremath{\gg}J, where J is the in-chain antiferromagnetic coupling). Their band is folded, with a minimum energy at k0{\mathit{k}}_{0}k0​=\ensuremath{\pi}, and a maximum between k1{\mathit{k}}_{1}k1​=\ensuremath{\pi}/2 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=0) and 0 (for ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\perp}}}$=\ensuremath{\infty}). We also give numerical results for the dynamical structure factor S(q,\ensuremath{\omega}), which can be determined in neutron scattering experiments. Finally, possible experimental techniques for studying the excitation spectrum are discussed.
We consider asymmetric spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ two-leg ladders with nonequal antiferromagnetic (AF) couplings ${J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ and $\ensuremath{\kappa}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ along legs $(\ensuremath{\kappa}\ensuremath{\le}1)$ and ferromagnetic rung coupling, ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. This model is characterized by a gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ in the spectrum of spin excitations. We show that in the large ${J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ limit this gap is equivalent to the Haldane gap for the AF spin-1 chain, irrespective of the asymmetry of the ladder. The behavior of the gap at small rung coupling falls in two different universality classes. The first class, which is best understood from the case of the conventional symmetric ladder at $\ensuremath{\kappa}=1$, admits a linear scaling for the spin gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. The second class appears for a strong asymmetry of the coupling along legs, $\ensuremath{\kappa}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}⪡{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}⪡{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$ and is characterized by two energy scales: the exponentially small spin gap $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\text{ }\text{exp}(\ensuremath{-}{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}/{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}})$, and the bandwidth of the low-lying excitations induced by a Suhl-Nakamura indirect exchange $\ensuremath{\sim}{J}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{2}/{J}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$. We report numerical results obtained by exact diagonalization, density-matrix renormalization group and quantum Monte Carlo simulations for the spin gap and various spin correlation functions. Our data indicate that the behavior of the string order parameter, characterizing the hidden AF order in Haldane phase, is different in the limiting cases of weak and strong asymmetries. On the basis of the numerical data, we propose a low-energy theory of effective spin-1 variables, pertaining to large blocks on a decimated lattice.
We study the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with alternating nearest neighbor interactions ${J}_{1}(1+\ensuremath{\delta})$ and ${J}_{1}(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta})$ and a uniform second neighbor interaction ${J}_{2}=y(1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta})$ by series expansions around the limit of decoupled dimers $(\ensuremath{\delta}=1).$ By extrapolating to $\ensuremath{\delta}=0$ and tuning y, we study the critical point separating the power-law and spontaneously dimerized phases of the spin-1/2 antiferromagnet. We then focus on the disorder line y=0.5,y=0.5,y=0.5, $0<~\ensuremath{\delta}<~1,$ where the ground states are known exactly. We calculate the triplet excitation spectrum, their spectral weights, and wave vector dependent static susceptibility along this line. It is well known that as $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\delta}}0,$ the spin gap is still nonzero but the triplets are replaced by spinons as the elementary excitations. We study this dynamical transition by analyzing the series for the spectral weight and the static susceptibility. In particular, we show that the spectral weight for the triplets vanishes and the static spin susceptibility changes from a simple pole at imaginary wave vectors to a branch cut at the transition.
We have carried out extensive series studies, at T=0 and at high temperatures, of two-chain and three-chain spin-half ladder systems with antiferromagnetic intrachain and both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interchain couplings. Our results confirm the existence of a gap in the two-chain Heisenberg ladders for all nonzero values of the interchain couplings. Complete dispersion relations for the spin-wave excitations are computed. For three-chain systems, our results are consistent with a gapless spectrum. We also calculate the uniform magnetic susceptibility and specific heat as a function of temperature. We find that as T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0, for the two-chain system the uniform susceptibility goes rapidly to zero, whereas for the three-chain system it approaches a finite value. These results are compared in detail with previous studies of finite systems. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain is an interesting object. First of all, as we have already discussed in Part III, spin chains with integer and half-integer spins have very different low energy properties. The results of Chapter 16 suggest that chains with integer spin have a spectral gap which is generated dynamically. The fact that there are many experimental realizations of quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnets with S = 1 makes the situation even more interesting. The most well studied compound is Ni(C 2 H 8 N 2 ) 2 NO 2 (ClO 4 ), abbreviated as NENP. Localized spins belong to magnetic Ni ions and all the other ingredients are necessary just to arrange them into well separated chains. The experiments show that there is indeed a spectral gap (Aijro et al. , 1989; Renard et al. , 1987; see Fig. 36.1). This gap is not very small in comparison with the bandwidth, but one can still hope that the continuum description is good enough. The Monte Carlo simulations give for the spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain the ratio of the correlation length to the lattice spacing ξ/ a = 6.2 (Nomura, 1989) which can still be treated as a large number. There is another intriguing fact about the S =1 Heisenberg chain which makes it attractive for a theorist. It is the presence of a hidden, so-called topological order. This feature puts this theory in a much broader context of spin liquids , magnetically disordered systems with a hidden order. Spin ladder The spin S = 1 Heisenberg chain can be described as a limiting case of two ferromagnetically coupled S = 1/2 chains. The problem of coupled chains (so-called spin ladders ) is interesting in its own right.
The properties of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg S= 1/2 ladders with two, three and four chains are expanded in the ratio of the intrachain and interchain coupling constants. A simple mapping procedure is introduced to relate the four- and two-chain ladders, which keeps to moderate values of the expansion parameters. A second-order calculation of the spin gap to the lowest triplet excitation in the two- and four-chain ladders is found to be quite accurate, even at the isotropic point where the couplings are equal. Similar expansions and mapping procedures are presented for the three-chain ladders, which are in the same universality class as single chains.