From One to Two Dimensions: Magnetic Phases in Weakly Coupled Spin Ladders

TL;DR

This paper investigates the magnetic phases of weakly coupled spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladders using DMRG and mean-field methods, mapping out a comprehensive phase diagram and linking magnetization behavior to material properties.

Contribution

It presents a detailed phase diagram for coupled spin ladders and demonstrates how magnetization measurements can identify material parameters.

Findings

Identified various magnetic phases including spin-gapped and antiferromagnetic.

Mapped the phase diagram as a function of coupling and magnetic field.

Showed how magnetization curves can determine Hamiltonian parameters.

Abstract

A large variety of materials can be approximately described by means of spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladders. Here, the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) algorithm together with a previously established numerical self-consistent mean-field approximation is used to investigate the magnetic properties of spin ladders coupled in a second dimension. The full ground state phase diagram including spin-gapped, antiferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic and fully polarized phases is presented as a function of interladder and intraladder coupling and magnetic field. Measurement of the dependence of magnetization on applied magnetic field is shown to enable location of a material on the phase diagram and determination of the Hamiltonian parameters. These results provide a practical route toward identifying and characterizing magnetic materials composed of coupled spin ladders.