Weakly CoupledS=1/2 Quantum Heisenberg Antiferromagnetic Chains in an Effective Staggered Field

Abstract

We study weakly coupled S = ½ quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains in an effective staggered field. Applying mean-field (MF) theory, spin-wave theory and chain MF (CMF) theory, we can see analytically some effects of the staggered field in this higher dimensional spin system. In particular, when the staggered field and the inter-chain interaction compete with each other, we conjecture from the MF theory that a nontrivial phase is present. The spin wave theory predicts that the behavior of the gaps induced by a staggered field is different between the competitive case and the non-competitive case. When the inter-chain interactions are weak enough, we can improve the MF phase diagram by using CMF theory and the analytical results of field theories. The ordered phase region predicted by the CMF theory is fairly smaller than one of the MF theory. Cu-benzoate, CuCl 2 . 2DMSO (dimethylsulphoxide), BaCu 2 (Si 1 - x Ge x ) 2 O 7 , etc., could be described by our model in enough low temperature.