Quantum phase transitions and string orders in the spin-1/2 Heisenberg–Ising alternating chain with Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction

Abstract

Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) and the ground-state phase diagram of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg–Ising alternating chain (HIAC) with uniform Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya (DM) interaction are investigated by a matrix-product-state (MPS) method. By calculating the odd- and even-string order parameters, we recognize two kinds of Haldane phases, i.e. the odd- and even-Haldane phases. Furthermore, doubly degenerate entanglement spectra on odd and even bonds are observed in odd- and even-Haldane phases, respectively. A rich phase diagram including four different phases, i.e. an antiferromagnetic (AF), AF stripe, odd- and even-Haldane phases, is obtained. These phases are found to be separated by continuous QPTs: the topological QPT between the odd- and even-Haldane phases is verified to be continuous and corresponds to conformal field theory with central charge c = 1; while the rest of the phase transitions in the phase diagram are found to be c = 1/2. We also revisit, with our MPS method, the exactly solvable case of HIAC model with DM interactions only on odd bonds and find that the even-Haldane phase disappears, but the other three phases, i.e. the AF, AF stripe and odd-Haldane phases, still remain in the phase diagram. We exhibit the evolution of the even-Haldane phase by tuning the DM interactions on the even bonds gradually.