Quantum phases of a frustrated spin-1 system: the 5/7 skewed ladder


Abstract in English

The quantum phases in a spin-1 skewed ladder system formed by alternately fusing five- and seven-membered rings is studied numerically using exact diagonalization technique up to 16 spins and using density matrix renormalization group method for larger system sizes. The ladder has isotropic antiferromagnetic (AF) exchange interaction ($J_2 = 1$) between the nearest neighbor spins along the legs, varying isotropic AF exchange interaction ($J_1$) along the rungs. As a function of $J_1$, the system shows many interesting ground states (gs) which vary from different types of nonmagnetic gs to different kinds of ferrimagnetic gs. Study of different gs properties such as spin gap, spin-spin correlations, spin density and bond order reveal that the system has four distinct phases namely, AF phase at small $J_1$, ferrimagnetic phase with gs spin $S_G = n$ for $1.44 < J_1 < 4.74$ and with $S_G = 2n$ for $J_1 > 5.63$, where $n$ is the number of unit cells, a reentrant nonmagnetic phase at $4.74 < J_1 < 5.44$. The system also shows the presence of spin current at specific $J_1$ values due to simultaneous breaking of both reflection and spin parity symmetries.

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