Semiclassical theory of the magnetization process of the triangular lattice Heisenberg model

Tommaso Coletta, Tamás A. Tóth, Karlo Penc, and Frédéric Mila
Phys. Rev. B 94, 075136 – Published 17 August 2016

Abstract

Motivated by the numerous examples of 1/3 magnetization plateaux in the triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet with spins ranging from 1/2 to 5/2, we revisit the semiclassical calculation of the magnetization curve of that model, with the aim of coming up with a simple method that allows one to calculate the full magnetization curve and not just the critical fields of the 1/3 plateau. We show that it is actually possible to calculate the magnetization curve including the first quantum corrections and the appearance of the 1/3 plateau entirely within linear spin-wave theory, with predictions for the critical fields that agree to order 1/S with those derived a long time ago on the basis of arguments that required going beyond linear spin-wave theory. This calculation relies on the central observation that there is a kink in the semiclassical energy at the field where the classical ground state is the collinear up-up-down structure and that this kink gives rise to a locally linear behavior of the energy with the field when all semiclassical ground states are compared to each other for all fields. The magnetization curves calculated in this way for spin 1/2, 1, and 5/2 are shown to be in good agreement with available experimental data.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 20 May 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.075136

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Tommaso Coletta1, Tamás A. Tóth2, Karlo Penc3,4, and Frédéric Mila5

  • 1School of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland
  • 2Haute école de gestion de Genève, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, CH-1227 Carouge, Switzerland
  • 3Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1525 Budapest, P.O. Box 49, Hungary
  • 4MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
  • 5Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 7 — 15 August 2016

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×