Nature of the 1/3 Magnetization Plateau in Spin-1/2 Kagome Antiferromagnets

Abstract

We investigate the origin of the 1/3 magnetization plateau in the $S=1/2$ kagome antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model using the variational Monte Carlo and exact diagonalization methods, to account for the recent experimental observations in YCu${}_3$(OH)${}_{6+x}$Br${}_{3-x}$ and YCu${}_3$(OD)${}_{6+x}$Br${}_{3-x}$. We identify three degenerate valence-bond-solid (VBS) states forming a $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$ unit cell. These states exhibit David-star patterns in the spin moment distribution with only two fractional values $-1/3$ and $2/3$, and are related through translational transformations. While the spin correlations in these VBS states are found to be short-range, resembling a quantum spin liquid, we show that they have a vanishing topological entanglement entropy and thus are topologically trivial many-body states. Our theoretical results provide strong evidence that the 1/3 magnetization plateau observed in recent experiments arises from these $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$ VBS states with fractional spin moments.

arXiv commentsubmmited to Chinese Physics Letters

References in corpus (54)

• Spin Liquid Ground State of the $S=1/2$ Kagome Heisenberg Model
• High temperature fractional quantum Hall states
• Fractionalized excitations in the spin liquid state of a kagomé lattice antiferromagnet
• CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$: a ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ topological kagome metal with a superconducting ground state
• Massive Dirac fermions in a ferromagnetic kagome metal
• Zoo of quantum-topological phases of matter
• Magnetic Weyl Semimetal Phase in a Kagome Crystal
• Spin Dynamics of the Spin-1/2 Kagome Lattice Antiferromagnet ZnCu_3(OH)_6Cl_2
• Magnetization plateaus in spin chains: ``Haldane gap'' for half-integer spins
• Roton pair density wave and unconventional strong-coupling superconductivity in a topological kagome metal
• Projected wavefunction study of Spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the Kagome lattice
• Topological insulator on the kagome lattice
• Topological kagome magnets and superconductors
• Gapless spin-liquid ground state in the $S=1/2$ kagome antiferromagnet
• Giant and anisotropic many-body spin-orbit tunability in a strongly correlated kagome magnet
• Evidence for a Gapped Spin-Liquid Ground State in a Kagome Heisenberg Antiferromagnet
• Gapless spin-liquid phase in the kagome spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• Correlation-driven chiral superconductivity and chiral spin order in doped kagome lattice
• Intrinsic Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in the Kagome Lattice Cs2LiMn3F12
• Kagome superconductors AV${}_3$Sb${}_5$ (A=K, Rb, Cs)
• Controlling frustrated liquids and solids with an applied field in a kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• Interaction-driven topological insulators on the kagome and the decorated honeycomb lattices
• Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Anisotropy in the Spin-1/2 Kagomé Compound ZnCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$Cl${}_2$
• Quantum states and intertwining phases in kagome materials
• Doped Kagome System as Exotic Superconductor
• Gapless ground state in the archetypal quantum kagome antiferromagnet ZnCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$Cl${}_2$
• AV${}_3$Sb${}_5$ Kagome Superconductors: Progress and Future Directions
• A theory of 2+1D bosonic topological orders
• Gapped spin-1/2 spinon excitations in a new kagome quantum spin liquid compound Cu${}_3$Zn(OH)${}_6$FBr
• Gapped spin liquid with ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-topological order for kagome Heisenberg model
• Quantum Criticality and Deconfinement in Phase Transitions Between Valence Bond Solids
• Spin-S Kagome quantum antiferromagnets in a field with tensor networks
• Strongly correlated fermions on a kagome lattice
• Fractionally charged topological point defects on the kagome lattice
• Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and spin re-orientation transition in the frustrated kagome lattice antiferromagnet
• Possible Dirac quantum spin liquid in a kagome quantum antiferromagnet YCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$Br${}_2$[Br${}_x$(OH)${}_{1-x}$]
• Thermodynamics of Spin-1/2 Kagomé Heisenberg Antiferromagnet: Algebraic Paramagnetic Liquid and Finite-Temperature Phase Diagram
• Entanglement signatures of emergent Dirac fermions: kagome spin liquid & quantum criticality
• Dynamic fingerprint of fractionalized excitations in single-crystalline Cu${}_3$Zn(OH)${}_6$FBr
• From magnetic order to quantum disorder: a $\mu$SR study of the Zn-barlowite series of $S=\frac{1}{2}$ kagomé antiferromagnets, Zn${}_x$Cu${}_{4-x}$(OH)${}_6$FBr
• Spectral evidence for Dirac spinons in a kagome lattice antiferromagnet
• Effect of Zn doping on the antiferromagnetism in kagome Cu${}_{4-x}$Zn${}_x$(OH)${}_6$FBr
• Geometric phases and the magnetization process in quantum antiferromagnets
• Emergent spin-gapped magnetization plateaus in a spin-1/2 perfect kagome antiferromagnet
• Phase transitions in the ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$ and U(1) clock models
• Unconventional Magnetic Oscillations in Kagome Mott Insulators
• Nature of the 1/9-magnetization plateau in the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet
• Variational Monte Carlo Study of the 1/9 Magnetization Plateau in Kagome Antiferromagnets
• Magnetic phase diagram of Cu${}_{4-x}$Zn${}_x$(OH)${}_6$FBr studied by neutron-diffraction and $\mu$SR techniques
• Quantum Phase Transition in Hall Conductivity on an Anisotropic Kagome Lattice
• Magnetic ground states in kagome YCu${}_3$(OH)${}_6$[(Cl${}_x$Br${}_{1-x}$)${}_{3-y}$(OH)${}_y$]
• Charge Dynamics of an Unconventional Three-Dimensional Charge Density Wave in Kagome FeGe
• Spinon quantum spin Hall state in the kagome antiferromagnet with a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
• Phase transitions in $q$-state clock model

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Recent progress in quantum spin liquids, fractional magnetization plateaus, and unconventional superconductivity in kagome lattices
• Dynamical spin correlations in kagome antiferromagnets: comparison of Abrikosov fermion and Schwinger boson approaches beyond mean field