Destruction of valence-bond order in a $S=1/2$ sawtooth chain with a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya term

Abstract

A small value of the spin gap in quantum antiferromagnets with strong frustration makes them susceptible to nominally small deviations from the ideal Heisenberg model. One of such perturbations, the anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, is an important perturbation for the $S=1/2$ kagome antiferromagnet, one of the current candidates for a quantum-disordered ground state. We study the influence of the DM term in a related one-dimensional system, the sawtooth chain that has valence-bond order in its ground state. Through a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we show that a relatively weak DM coupling, $0.115J$, is sufficient to destroy the valence-bond order, close the spin gap, and turn the system into a Luttinger liquid with algebraic spin correlations. A similar mechanism may be at work in the kagome antiferromagnet.

11 pages. References added. Revisions made as requested by referees

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Magnetization process of atacamite: a case of weakly coupled $S=1/2$ sawtooth chains
• Enhancement of magnetization plateaus in low dimensional spin systems
• Flat-band spin dynamics and phonon anomalies of the saw-tooth spin-chain system Fe${}_2$O(SeO${}_3$)${}_2$
• Long-range spin chirality dimer order in the Heisenberg chain with modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions
• Analytical and numerical studies of the one-dimensional sawtooth chain
• Magnetic phase diagram of a spin-1/2 XXZ chain with modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Magnetic phase diagram of a spin S=1/2 antiferromagnetic two-leg ladder in the presence of modulated along legs Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Spatially anisotropic kagome antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Anomalous thermodynamics of a quantum spin system with large residual entropy
• Two Coupled Chains are Simpler than One: Field-induced Chirality in a Frustrated Quantum Spin Ladder
• Current jumps in flat band ladders with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions
• On flat bands in the $J_1$-$J_2$-$J_3$ XXZ sawtooth chain
• Electric-field driven flat bands in the distorted sawtooth chain via the Katsura-Nagaosa-Balatsky mechanism