Nearest-neighbor J1 Research Articles

Spin model for the honeycomb NiPS3

In the Van der Waals material NiPS3, Ni atoms have spin S = 1 and realize a honeycomb lattice. Six sulfur atoms surround each Ni and split their d manifold into three filled and two unfilled bands. Aimed to determine the spin Hamiltonian of NiPS3, we study its exchange mechanisms using a two-band half-filled Hubbard model. Hopping between d-orbitals is mediated by p orbitals of sulfur and gives rise to bilinear and biquadratic spin couplings in the limit of strong electronic correlations. The microscopic model exposed a ferromagnetic biquadratic spin interaction K1, allowing the completion of a minimal J1−J3−K1 spin Hamiltonian for NiPS3. In bulk, a ferromagnetic first nearest neighbor J1 and a more significant antiferromagnetic third nearest neighbor spin coupling J3 agreed with the literature, while in monolayer, J1 is positive and very small in comparison. Using a variational scheme, we found that a zig–zag antiferromagnetic order is the ground state of bulk samples. The zig–zag pattern is adjacent to commensurate and incommensurate spin spirals, which could hint at the puzzling results reported in NiPS3 monolayers.

Quantum phase transition in the frustrated anisotropic honeycomb lattice

We study the spin -1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the two dimensional honeycomb lattice at zero temperature, with nearest-neighbor J1 and next-to-nearest neighbor J2 exchange interactions and single-ion easy plane anisotropy, using the SU(3) Schwinger boson formalism. A disordered spin-liquid phase may appear in a narrow regime of intermediate frustration, in between an ordered antiferromagnetic phase and a collinear one. This quantum paramagnetic state is characterized by a finite gap in the excitation spectrum.

Strong Suppression of Magnetic Ordering in an S = 1/2 Square-Lattice Heisenberg Antiferromagnet Sr2CuTeO6

We report the magnetic susceptibility and the low-temperature specific heat of a double perovskite compound, Sr2CuTeO6, which is expected as the spin-1/2 square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet with nearest-neighbor J1 and next-nearest-neighbor J2 exchange interactions. The specific heat exhibits a sharp lambda-like anomaly at TN = 4.8 K indicative of magnetic ordering, which is much lower than those in isostructural A2CuMO6 with A = Ba, Sr and M = W, Mo. This indicates the strong suppression of magnetic ordering in Sr2CuTeO6. We estimate the exchange constant J1/kB ~ 80 K and J2/J1 < 0.07 from magnetic susceptibility data using Pade approximation of high temperature expansion and quantum Monte Carlo method. The strong suppression of magnetic ordering in Sr2CuTeO6 should be ascribed to the weekness of the interlayer exchange.

"Devil's staircase"-type phase transition in NaV2O5 under high pressure.

The "devil's staircase"-type phase transition in the quarter-filled spin-ladder compound NaV2O5 has been discovered at low temperature and high pressure by synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction. A large number of transitions are found to successively take place among higher-order commensurate phases with 2a x 2b x zc type superstructures. The observed temperature and pressure dependence of modulation wave number q(c), defined by 1/z, is well reproduced by the axial next nearest neighbor Ising model. The q(c) is suggested to reflect atomic displacements presumably coupled with charge ordering in this system.