No Arabic abstract
We study effects of disorder (randomness) in a 2D square-lattice $S=1/2$ quantum spin system, the $J$-$Q$ model with a 6-spin interaction $Q$ supplementing the Heisenberg exchange $J$. In the absence of disorder the system hosts antiferromagnetic (AFM) and columnar valence-bond-solid (VBS) ground states. The VBS breaks $Z_4$ symmetry, and in the presence of arbitrarily weak disorder it forms domains. Using QMC simulations, we demonstrate two kinds of such disordered VBS states. Upon dilution, a removed site leaves a localized spin in the opposite sublattice. These spins form AFM order. For random interactions, we find a different state, with no order but algebraically decaying mean correlations. We identify localized spinons at the nexus of domain walls between different VBS patterns. These spinons form correlated groups with the same number of spinons and antispinons. Within such a group, there is a strong tendency to singlet formation, because of spinon-spinon interactions mediated by the domain walls. Thus, no long-range AFM order forms. We propose that this state is a 2D analog of the well-known 1D random singlet (RS) state, though the dynamic exponent $z$ in 2D is finite. By studying the T-dependent magnetic susceptibility, we find that $z$ varies, from $z=2$ at the AFM--RS phase boundary and larger in the RS phase The RS state discovered here in a system without geometric frustration should correspond to the same fixed point as the RS state recently proposed for frustrated systems, and the ability to study it without Monte Carlo sign problems opens up opportunities for further detailed characterization of its static and dynamic properties. We also discuss experimental evidence of the RS phase in the quasi-two-dimensional square-lattice random-exchange quantum magnets Sr$_2$CuTe$_{1-x}$W$_x$O$_6$.
Piperazinium Hexachlorodicuprate (PHCC) is shown to be a frustrated quasi-two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with a gapped spectrum. Zero-field inelastic neutron scattering and susceptibility and specific heat measurements as a function of applied magnetic field are presented. At T = 1.5 K, the magnetic excitation spectrum is dominated by a single propagating mode with a gap, Delta = 1 meV, and bandwidth of approximately 1.8 meV in the (h0l) plane. The mode has no dispersion along the b* direction indicating that neighboring a-c planes of the triclinic structure are magnetically decoupled. The heat capacity shows a reduction of the gap as a function of applied magnetic field in agreement with a singlet-triplet excitation spectrum. A field-induced ordered phase is observed in heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility measurements for magnetic fields greater than H_c1 approximately equal to 7.5 Tesla. Analysis of the neutron scattering data reveals the important exchange interactions and indicates that some of these are highly frustrated.
We overview physical effects of exchange frustration and quantum spin fluctuations in (quasi-) two dimensional (2D) quantum magnets ($S=1/2$) with square, rectangular and triangular structure. Our discussion is based on the $J_1$-$J_2$ type frustrated exchange model and its generalizations. These models are closely related and allow to tune between different phases, magnetically ordered as well as more exotic nonmagnetic quantum phases by changing only one or two control parameters. We survey ground state properties like magnetization, saturation fields, ordered moment and structure factor in the full phase diagram as obtained from numerical exact diagonalization computations and analytical linear spin wave theory. We also review finite temperature properties like susceptibility, specific heat and magnetocaloric effect using the finite temperature Lanczos method. This method is powerful to determine the exchange parameters and g-factors from experimental results. We focus mostly on the observable physical frustration effects in magnetic phases where plenty of quasi-2D material examples exist to identify the influence of quantum fluctuations on magnetism.
Recent experiments [J. Guo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.124,206602 (2020)] on thermodynamic properties of the frustrated layered quantum magnet SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ -- the Shastry-Sutherland material -- have provided strong evidence for a low-temperature phase transition between plaquette-singlet and antiferromagnetic order as a function of pressure. Further motivated by the recently discovered unusual first-order quantum phase transition with an apparent emergent O(4) symmetry of the antiferromagnetic and plaquette-singlet order parameters in a two-dimensional checkerboard J-Q quantum spin model [B. Zhao et al., Nat. Phys. 15, 678 (2019)], we here study the same model in the presence of weak inter-layer couplings. Our focus is on the evolution of the emergent symmetry as the system crosses over from two to three dimensions and the phase transition extends from strictly zero temperature in two dimensions up to finite temperature as expected in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we map out the phase boundaries of the plaquette-singlet and antiferromagnetic phases, with particular focus on the triple point where these two order phases meet the paramagnetic phase for given strength of the inter-layer coupling. All transitions are first-order in the neighborhood of the triple points. We show that the emergent O(4) symmetry of the coexistence state breaks down clearly when the interlayer coupling becomes sufficiently large, but for a weak coupling, of the magnitude expected experimentally, the enlarged symmetry can still be observed at the triple point up to significant length scales. Thus, it is likely that the plaquette-singlet to antiferromagnetic transition in SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ exhibits remnants of emergent O(4) symmetry, which should be observable due to additional weakly gapped Goldstone modes.
Motivated by experimental observation of the non-magnetic phase in the compounds with frustration and disorder, we study the ground state of the spin-$1/2$ square-lattice Heisenberg model with randomly distributed nearest-neighbor $J_1$ and next-nearest-neighbor $J_2$ couplings. By using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculation on cylinder system with circumference up to $10$ lattice sites, we identify a disordered phase between the Neel and stripe magnetic phase with growing $J_2 / J_1$ in the presence of strong randomness. The vanished spin-freezing parameter indicates the absent spin glass order. The large-scale DMRG results unveil the size-scaling behaviors of the spin-freezing parameter, the power-law decay of average spin correlation, and the exponential decay of typical spin correlation, which all agree with the corresponding behavior in the one-dimensional random singlet (RS) state and characterize the RS nature of this non-magnetic state. The DMRG simulation also opens new insight and opportunities for characterizing a class of non-magnetic states in two-dimensional frustrated magnets with disorder. We also compare with existing experiments and suggest more measurements for understanding the spin-liquid-like behavior in the double perovskite Sr$_2$CuTe$_{1-x}$W$_{x}$O$_6$.
We consider quantum Heisenberg ferro- and antiferromagnets on the square lattice with exchange anisotropy of easy-plane or easy-axis type. The thermodynamics and the critical behaviour of the models are studied by the pure-quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation, in order to evaluate the spin and anisotropy dependence of the critical temperatures. Results for thermodynamic quantities are reported and comparison with experimental and numerical simulation data is made. The obtained results allow us to draw a general picture of the subject and, in particular, to estimate the value of the critical temperature for any model belonging to the considered class.