Elementary excitations and thermodynamics of zig-zag spin ladders with alternating nearest-neighbor exchange interactions

Abstract

A one-dimensional spin-1∕2 model in which the alternation of the exchange interactions between neighboring spins is accompanied by the next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) spin exchange (zig-zag spin ladder with alternation) is studied. The thermodynamic characteristics of the model quantum spin chain are obtained in the mean-field-like approximation. Depending on the strength of the NNN interactions, the model manifests either the spin-gapped behavior of low-lying excitations at low magnetic fields, or ferrimagnetic ordering in the ground state with gapless low-lying excitations. The system undergoes second-order or first-order quantum phase transitions, governed by the external magnetic field, NNN coupling strength, and the degree of the alternation. Hence, NNN spin–spin interactions in a dimerized quantum spin chain can produce a spontaneous magnetization. On the other hand, for quantum spin chains with a spontaneous magnetization, caused by NNN spin–spin couplings, the alternation of nearest-neighbor (NN) exchange interactions can cause destruction of that magnetization and the onset of a spin gap for low-lying excitations. Alternating NN interactions produce a spin gap between two branches of low-energy excitations, and the NNN interactions yield asymmetry of the dispersion laws of those excitations, with possible minima corresponding to incommensurate structures in the spin chain.