arXiv subjects

J. Riera

Publications and source records attributed to J. Riera.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2000

Evolution of the Spin Gap Upon Doping a 2-Leg Ladder

The evolution of the spin gap of a 2-leg ladder upon doping depends upon the nature of the lowest triplet excitations in a ladder with two holes. Here we study this evolution using various numerical techniques for a t-t'-J ladder as the next-near-neighbor hopping t' is varied. We find that depending on the value of t', the spin gap can evolve continuously or discontinuously and the lowest triplet state can correspond to a magnon, a bound magnon-hole-pair, or two separate quasi-particles. Previous experimental results on the superconducting two-leg ladder Sr12Ca2Cu24O41 are discussed.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Magnetic order in ferromagnetically coupled spin ladders

A model of coupled antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladders is studied with numerical techniques. In the case of ferromagnetic interladder coupling we find that the dynamic and static structure factor has a peak at $(π,π/2)$ where the first (second) direction is along (transversal) to the ladders. Besides, we suggest that the intensity of this peak and the spin-spin correlation at the maximum distance along the ladder direction remain finite in the bulk limit for strong enough interladder coupling. We discuss the relevance of these results for magnetic compounds containing ladders coupled in a trellis lattice and for the stripe scenario in high-T$_c$ superconducting cuprates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2000

Low-energy excitations of spin-Peierls chains with modified bond-impurities

The introduction of modified bond-defects in spin-Peierls systems is investigated in a model of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chains coupled to adiabatic phonons. Generically, new low-energy magnetic or non-magnetic excitations appear below the bulk spin gap energy. When two adjacent bonds are modified, these excitations can be interpreted in terms of boundstates of a soliton with the localized spin-1/2 located on the impurity site. It is shown that the confining potential occurs even in the case of {\it isolated} chains.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Study of impurities in spin-Peierls systems including lattice relaxation

The effects of magnetic and non-magnetic impurities in spin-Peierls systems are investigated allowing for lattice relaxation and quantum fluctuations. We show that, in isolated chains, strong bonds form next to impurities, leading to the appearance of magneto-elastic solitons. Generically, these solitonic excitations do not bind to impurities. However, interchain elastic coupling produces an attractive potential at the impurity site which can lead to the formation of bound states. In addition, we predict that small enough chain segments do not carry magnetic moments at the ends.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Investigation of soliton bound states in the Raman spectrum of pure and doped spin-Peierls chains

We investigate the occurrence of singlet bound states in the Raman spectrum of dimerized spin 1/2 chains by Exact Diagonalization and Density Matrix Renormalization Group techniques. We predict that several bulk $δ$-peaks could be observed in pure systems. Furthermore, we show that new low energy lines arise from non-magnetic impurity doping. These features are interpreted in terms of soliton-antisoliton and soliton-impurity bound states respectively. Energies and spectral weights associated with these bound states are sensitive to lattice relaxation effects. Our results are discussed in the context of the inorganic spin-Peierls compound CuGeO$_3$ and quantitatively compared to recent Raman experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Antiferromagnetism in doped anisotropic two-dimensional spin-Peierls systems

We study the formation of antiferromagnetic correlations induced by impurity doping in anisotropic two-dimensional spin-Peierls systems. Using a mean-field approximation to deal with the inter-chain magnetic coupling, the intra-chain correlations are treated exactly by numerical techniques. The magnetic coupling between impurities is computed for both adiabatic and dynamical lattices and is shown to have an alternating sign as a function of the impurity-impurity distance, hence suppressing magnetic frustration. An effective model based on our numerical results supports the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and dimerization in this system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Hole-Pairs in a Spin Liquid: Influence of Electrostatic Hole-Hole Repulsion

The stability of hole bound states in the t-J model including short-range Coulomb interactions is analyzed using computational techniques on ladders with up to $2 \times 30$ sites. For a nearest-neighbors (NN) hole-hole repulsion, the two-holes bound state is surprisingly robust and breaks only when the repulsion is several times the exchange $J$. At $\sim 10%$ hole doping the pairs break only for a NN-repulsion as large as $V \sim 4J$. Pair-pair correlations remain robust in the regime of hole binding. The results support electronic hole-pairing mechanisms on ladders based on holes moving in spin-liquid backgrounds. Implications in two dimensions are also presented. The need for better estimations of the range and strength of the Coulomb interaction in copper-oxides is remarked.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1998

Coexistence of charge density wave and spin-Peierls orders in quarter-filled quasi-one dimensional correlated electron systems

Charge and spin-Peierls instabilities in quarter-filled (n=1/2) compounds consisting of coupled ladders and/or zig-zag chains are investigated. Hubbard and t-J models including local Holstein and/or Peierls couplings to the lattice are studied by numerical techniques. Next nearest neighbor hopping and magnetic exchange, and short-range Coulomb interactions are also considered. We show that, generically, these systems undergo instabilities towards the formation of Charge Density Waves, Bond Order Waves and (generalized) spin-Peierls modulated structures. Moderate electron-electron and electron-lattice couplings can lead to a coexistence of these three types of orders. In the ladder, a zig-zag pattern is stabilized by the Holstein coupling and the nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsion. In the case of an isolated chain, bond-centered and site-centered 2k_F and 4k_F modulations are induced by the local Holstein coupling. In addition, we show that, in contrast to the ladders, a small charge ordering in the chains, strongly enhances the spin-Peierls instability. Our results are applied to the NaV_2O_5 compound (trellis lattice) and various phases with coexisting charge disproportionation and spin-Peierls order are proposed and discussed in the context of recent experiments. The role of the long-range Coulomb potential is also outlined.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Interaction between impurities and solitons in quasi one-dimensional spin-Peierls systems

The role of the spin-phonon coupling in spin-Peierls chains doped with spin-0 or spin-1 impurities is investigated by various numerical methods such as exact diagonalization, quantum Monte Carlo simulations and Density Matrix Renormalization Group. Various treatments of the lattice, in a fully quantum mechanical way, classically in the adiabatic approximation or using a fixed three-dimensional dimerization pattern are compared. For an isolated chain, strong bonds form between the two spin-1/2 sites next to the impurity site, leading to the appearance of magneto-elastic solitons. We also show that these excitations do not bind to spin-0 impurities but are weakly attracted by spin-1 impurities. However, the interchain elastic coupling generates an effective confining potential at the non-magnetic impurity site which can lead to the formation of soliton-impurity bound states. We also predict that a soliton and an antisoliton bound to two impurities on the same chain can annihilate each other when the separation between the impurities is smaller than a critical value depending on the interchain elastic constant.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Diagonalization in Reduced Hilbert Spaces using a Systematically Improved Basis: Application to Spin Dynamics in Lightly Doped Ladders

A method is proposed to improve the accuracy of approximate techniques for strongly correlated electrons that use reduced Hilbert spaces. As a first step, the method involves a change of basis that incorporates exactly part of the short distance interactions. The Hamiltonian is rewritten in new variables that better represent the physics of the problem under study. A Hilbert space expansion performed in the new basis follows. The method is successfully tested using both the Heisenberg model and the $t-J$ model with holes on 2-leg ladders and chains, including estimations for ground state energies, static correlations, and spectra of excited states. An important feature of this technique is its ability to calculate dynamical responses on clusters larger than those that can be studied using Exact Diagonalization. The method is applied to the analysis of the dynamical spin structure factor $S(q,ω)$ on clusters with $2 \times 16$ sites and 0 and 2 holes. Our results confirm previous studies (M. Troyer, H. Tsunetsugu, and T. M. Rice, Phys. Rev. $ B 53$, 251 (1996)) which suggested that the state of the lowest energy in the spin-1 2-holes subspace corresponds to the bound state of a hole pair and a spin-triplet. Implications of this result for neutron scattering experiments both on ladders and planes are discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1998

Thermodynamic Properties of the Spin-1/2 Antiferromagnetic ladder Cu2(C2H12N2)2Cl4 under Magnetic Field

Specific heat ($C_V$) measurements in the spin-1/2 Cu$_2$(C$_2$H$_{12}$N$_2$)$_2$Cl$_4$ system under a magnetic field up to $H=8.25 T$ are reported and compared to the results of numerical calculations based on the 2-leg antiferromagnetic Heisenberg ladder. While the temperature dependences of both the susceptibility and the low field specific heat are accurately reproduced by this model, deviations are observed below the critical field $H_{C1}$ at which the spin gap closes. In this Quantum High Field phase, the contribution of the low-energy quantum fluctuations are stronger than in the Heisenberg ladder model. We argue that this enhancement can be attributed to dynamical lattice fluctuations. Finally, we show that such a Heisenberg ladder, for $H>H_{C1}$, is unstable, when coupled to the 3D lattice, against a lattice distortion. These results provide an alternative explanation for the observed low temperature ($T_C\sim 0.5K$ -- $0.8K$) phase (previously interpreted as a 3D magnetic ordering) as a new type of incommensurate gapped state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Study of spin-Peierls transition in alpha'--NaV2O5 by infrared reflectivity

Polarized infrared reflectivity measurements have been performed on single crystals of the spin-Peierls compound alpha'-NaV2O5 in the temperature range 20-300 K. Pronounced spectral features associated with the formation of the dimerized phase were detected both in the a- and b-polarizations (perpendicular and parallel to the spin-1/2 chains, respectively). The temperature dependence of a salient spectral line at 718 cm^-1 sharply rising below the transition temperature T_SP obeys a (1-T/T_SP)^(2beta) law with T_SP \simeq 34.3$K and beta \simeq 0.25. In addition, a continuum signal is observed in the whole temperature range in the a-polarized optical conductivity spectra. In order to interpret these results, calculations of the static dimerization and of the optical conductivity based on a mean-field and a dynamical treatment of the lattice respectively are proposed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Photoemission, inverse photoemission and superconducting correlations in Hubbard and t--J ladders: role of the anisotropy between legs and rungs

Several experiments in the context of ladder materials have recently shown that the study of simple models of anisotropic ladders (i.e. with different couplings along legs and rungs) is important for the understanding of these compounds. In this paper Exact Diagonalization studies of the one-band Hubbard and t-J models are reported for a variety of densities, couplings, and anisotropy ratios. The emphasis is given to the one-particle spectral function A(q,ω) which presents a flat quasiparticle dispersion at the chemical potential in some region of parameter space. This is correlated with the existence of strong pairing fluctuations, which themselves are correlated with an enhancement of the bulk-extrapolated value for the two-hole binding energy as well as with the strength of the spin-gap in the hole-doped system. Part of the results for the spectral function are explained using a simple analytical picture valid when the hopping along the legs is small. In particular, this picture predicts an insulating state at quarter filling in agreement with the metal-insulator transition observed at this special filling for increasing rung couplings. The results are compared against previous literature, and in addition pair-pair correlations using extended operators are also here reported.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

A Study of the S=1/2 Alternating Chain using Multiprecision Methods

In this paper we present results for the ground state and low-lying excitations of the $S=1/2$ alternating Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. Our more conventional techniques include perturbation theory about the dimer limit and numerical diagonalization of systems of up to 28 spins. A novel application of multiple precision numerical diagonalization allows us to determine analytical perturbation series to high order; the results found using this approach include ninth-order perturbation series for the ground state energy and one magnon gap, which were previously known only to third order. We also give the fifth-order dispersion relation and third-order exclusive neutron scattering structure factor for one-magnon modes and numerical and analytical binding energies of S=0 and S=1 two-magnon bound states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

Spin dynamics of the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO_3 under magnetic field

The magnetic field--driven transition in the spin-Peierls system CuGeO_3 associated with the closing of the spin gap is investigated numerically. The field dependence of the spin dynamical structure factor (seen by inelastic neutron scattering) and of the momentum dependent static susceptibility are calculated. In the dimerized phase (H<H_c), we suggest that the strong field dependence of the transverse susceptibility could be experimentally seen from the low temperature spin-echo relaxation rate 1/T_{2G} or the second moment of the NMR spectrum. Above H_c low energy spin excitations appear at incommensurate wave vectors where the longitudinal susceptibility chi_{zz}(q) peaks.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1995

Heavy Quasiparticles in the Anderson Lattice Model

An exact-diagonalization technique on small clusters is used to study the dynamics of the one-dimensional symmetric Anderson lattice model. Our calculated excitation spectra reproduce key features expected for an infinite Kondo lattice such as nearly localized low-energy spin excitations and extended regions of `heavy-quasiparticle' bands. We show that, in contrast to the hybridization picture, low-energy spin excitations of the nearly-localized $f$-electron system play a key role in the formation of an almost dispersionless low-energy band of heavy quasiparticles.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Pair breaking by impurities in the two-dimensional t-J model

Pair breaking mechanisms by impurities are investigated in the two-dimensional t-J model by exact diagonalization techniques. Analysis of binding energies, pairing correlations, dynamical spin and pair susceptibilities shows that non-magnetic impurities are more effective in suppressing pairing than magnetic ones in agreement with experimental studies of Zn- and Ni- substituted High-Tc superconductors.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Spin Dynamics of Hole Doped ${\rm Y_{2-x} Ca_x Ba Ni O_5}$

We propose an electronic model for the recently discovered hole doped compound ${\rm Y_{2-x} Ca_x Ba Ni O_5 }$. From a multiband Hamiltonian with oxygen and nickel orbitals, a one band model is derived. Holes are described using Zhang-Rice-like S=1/2 states at the nickels propagating on a S=1 spin chain. Using numerical techniques to calculate the dynamical spin structure factor ${\rm S(q,ω)}$ in a realistic regime of couplings, spectral weight in the Haldane gap is observed in agreement with neutron scattering data. Low energy states with S=3/2 appear in the model. Several predictions are made to test these ideas.

cond-mat↗