Magnetic properties of the $S=1/2$ distorted diamond chain at T=0

TL;DR

This paper investigates the zero-temperature magnetic properties of a distorted diamond chain model relevant to several copper-based compounds, revealing mechanisms behind magnetization plateaux and providing detailed phase diagrams through advanced numerical methods.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive analysis of magnetization plateaux in the $S=1/2$ distorted diamond chain using multiple numerical and analytical techniques, including DMRG and level spectroscopy.

Findings

Identified mechanisms for $M=M_s/3$ and $M=2M_s/3$ magnetization plateaux.

Mapped phase diagrams on the $(J_2/J_1, J_3/J_1)$ plane.

Calculated magnetization curves and phase diagrams with high precision.

Abstract

We explore, at T=0, the magnetic properties of the $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic distorted diamond chain described by the Hamiltonian ${\cal H} = \sum_{j=1}^{N/3}{J_1 ({\bi S}_{3j-1} \cdot {\bi S}_{3j} + {\bi S}_{3j} \cdot {\bi S}_{3j+1}) + J_2 {\bi S}_{3j+1} \cdot {\bi S}_{3j+2} + J_3 ({\bi S}_{3j-2} \cdot {\bi S}_{3j} + {\bi S}_{3j} \cdot {\bi S}_{3j+2})} \allowbreak - H \sum_{l=1}^{N} S_l^z $ with $J_1, J_2, J_3\ge0$, which well models ${\rm A_3 Cu_3 (PO_4)_4}$ with ${\rm A = Ca, Sr}$, ${\rm Bi_4 Cu_3 V_2 O_{14}}$ and azurite $\rm Cu_3(OH)_2(CO_3)_2$. We employ the physical consideration, the degenerate perturbation theory, the level spectroscopy analysis of the numerical diagonalization data obtained by the Lanczos method and also the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. We investigate the mechanisms of the magnetization plateaux at $M=M_s/3$ and $M=(2/3)M_s$, and also show the precise phase diagrams on the $(J_2/J_1, J_3/J_1)$ plane concerning with these magnetization plateaux, where $M=\sum_{l=1}^{N} S_l^z$ and $M_s$ is the saturation magnetization. We also calculate the magnetization curves and the magnetization phase diagrams by means of the DMRG method.