The S=1 quantum spin chain with equal Heisenberg and biquadratic exchange in a magnetic field

Abstract

The S=1 quantum spin chain with equal Heisenberg and biquadratic exchange was shown by Sutherland to be integrable. In this paper the equations obtained by Sutherland are solved numerically to obtain the behaviour at zero temperature in a magnetic field. It is found that there is an additional phase change at a lower field than the spin flop field. This new phase change marks the boundary between a regime in which the ground state contains only atoms with Sz=1, 0 and one in which 1, 0 and -1 are present. The form of the elementary excitations in the two regimes is discussed and the possibility of a similar phase change in the pure Heisenberg model is considered.