Second-order magnetic responses in quantum magnets: Magnetization under ac magnetic fields

Abstract

We investigate second-order magnetic responses of quantum magnets against ac magnetic fields. We focus on the case where the $z$ component of the spin is conserved in the unperturbed Hamiltonian and the driving field is applied in the $xy$ plane. We find that linearly polarized driving fields induce a second-harmonic response, while circularly polarized fields generate only a zero-frequency response, leading to a magnetization with a direction determined by the helicity. Employing an unbiased numerical method, we demonstrate the nonlinear magnetic effect driven by the circularly polarized field in the XXZ model and show that the magnitude of the magnetization can be predicted by the dynamical spin structure factor in the linear response regime.