Abstract
The possibility of implementing a quantum-spin-liquid-type state in a two-layer triangular spin-1/2 antiferromagnet at T = 0 is investigated. The ratio of intra-to interlayer exchange constants (j) is found under which a transition from the classical state with 120° triangular order to a quantum state with zero magnetization per site occurs; in this case, the spins of adjacent layers form singlets that are separated from triplet excitations by an energy gap. Compared with an analogous system with the square lattice, the range of j in which the classical ordered state is realized turns out to be an order of magnitude smaller due to the effects of frustration; in this case, the behavior of thermodynamic quantities is analogous, on the whole, to that in two-layer square lattices; a difference manifests itself in the behavior of the gap in the spectrum of quasiparticles in an external magnetic field h. For small fields h, a j-h phase diagram is constructed that determines the domains in which the 120° and the singlet phases exist. It is established that, in the neighborhood of the second-order phase transition, the contribution, to the thermodynamic quantities, of longitudinal spin fluctuations, which are disregarded in the spin-wave description, is comparable to the contribution of transverse fluctuations.
Published Version
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