Abstract
We study the zero-temperature phase diagram and the low-lying excitations of a square-lattice spin-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet with two types of regularly distributed nearest-neighbor exchange bonds (antiferromagnetic) and using the coupled cluster method (CCM) for high orders of approximation (up to LSUB8). We use a Néel model state as well as a helical model state as a starting point for the CCM calculations. We find a second-order transition from a phase with Néel order to a finite-gap quantum disordered phase for sufficiently large antiferromagnetic exchange constants For frustrating ferromagnetic couplings we find indications that quantum fluctuations favor a first-order phase transition from the Néel order to a quantum helical state, by contrast with the corresponding second-order transition in the corresponding classical model. The results are compared to those of exact diagonalizations of finite systems (up to 32 sites) and those of spin-wave and variational calculations. The CCM results agree well with the exact diagonalization data over the whole range of the parameters. The special case of which is equivalent to the honeycomb lattice, is treated more closely.
- Received 3 August 1999
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.61.14607
©2000 American Physical Society