Excitation spectra and ground state properties of the layered spin-1/2 frustrated antiferromagnets Cs_2CuCl_4 and Cs_2CuBr_4

TL;DR

This paper employs series expansion methods to analyze the ground and excited states of layered spin-1/2 frustrated antiferromagnets Cs_2CuCl_4 and Cs_2CuBr_4, aligning theoretical results with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical study of these materials using series expansions, including the effects of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, to match experimental observations.

Findings

Good agreement with neutron scattering data

Quantum renormalizations of magnon dispersion explained

DM interaction improves theoretical predictions

Abstract

We use series expansion methods to study ground- and excited-state properties in the helically ordered phase of spin-1/2 frustrated antiferromagnets on an anisotropic triangular lattice. We calculate the ground state energy, ordering wavevector, sublattice magnetization and one-magnon excitation spectrum for parameters relevant to Cs_2CuCl_4 and Cs_2CuBr_4. Both materials are modeled in terms of a Heisenberg model with spatially anisotropic exchange constants; for Cs_2CuCl_4 we also take into account the additional Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. We compare our results for Cs_2CuCl_4 with unpolarized neutron scattering experiments and find good agreement. In particular, the large quantum renormalizations of the one-magnon dispersion are well accounted for in our analysis, and inclusion of the DM interaction brings the theoretical predictions for the ordering wavevector and the magnon dispersion closer to the experimental results.