Fractional Magnetization Plateau in the Alternating Spin Heisenberg Chain

Abstract

We study the S =1/2 and S =1 alternating spin Heisenberg chain with the next-nearest neighbor (NNN) interaction J 2 between neighboring S =1/2 spins, by using the numerical diagonalization method of a finite size system. It is found that a fractional plateau appears at magnetization m =1/2 in the magnetization curve for J 2 > J 2 c =0.106±0.001. The phase transition at J 2 c is characterized by the exponent σ=1, which controls the critical behavior of the spin gap Δ as Δ∼ exp(- a /( J 2 - J 2 c ) 1+σ ). For J 2 < J 2 c , the model at m =1/2 is described by the conformal field theory with central charge c =1 and exponent η for the spin correlation function of the transverse component to a magnetic field is calculated.