Quantum Theory of Helimagnetic Thin Films

We study properties of a helimagnetic thin film with quantum Heisenberg spin model by using the Green's function method. Surface spin configuration is calculated by minimizing the spin interaction energy. It is shown that the angles between spins near the surface are strongly modified with respect to the bulk configuration. Taking into account this surface spin reconstruction, we calculate self-consistently the spin-wave spectrum and the layer magnetizations as functions of temperature up to the disordered phase. The spin-wave spectrum shows the existence of a surface-localized branch which causes a low surface magnetization. We show that quantum fluctuations give rise to a crossover between the surface magnetization and interior-layer magnetizations at low temperatures. We calculate the transition temperature and show that it depends strongly on the helical angle. Results are in agreement with existing experimental observations on the stability of helical structure in thin films and on the insensitivity of the transition temperature with the film thickness. We also study effects of various parameters such as surface exchange and anisotropy interactions. Monte Carlo simulations for the classical spin model are also carried out for comparison with the quantum theoretical result

Phase Transition in Heisenberg Stacked Triangular Antiferromagnets: End of a Controversy

By using the Wang-Landau flat-histogram Monte Carlo (MC) method for very large lattice sizes never simulated before, we show that the phase transition in the frustrated Heisenberg stacked triangular antiferromagnet is of first-order, contrary to results of earlier MC simulations using old-fashioned methods. Our result lends support to the conclusion of a nonperturbative renormalization group performed on an effective Hamiltonian. It puts an end to a 20-year long controversial issue.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Helimagnetic thin films: surface reconstruction, surface spin-waves and magnetization

Quantum properties of a helimagnetic thin film of simple cubic lattice with Heisenberg spin model are studied using the Green's function method. We find that the spin configuration across the film is strongly non uniform. Using the exactly determined spin configuration we calculate the spin-wave spectrum and the layer magnetizations as functions of temperature T. We show the existence of surface-localized modes which strongly affect the surface magnetization. We also show that quantum fluctuations cause interesting spin contractions at T = 0 and give rise to a cross-over between layer magnetizations at low T .Comment: To appear in JMMM. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1412.018

Tricriticality of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths Model In Thin Films of Stacked Triangular Lattices

We study in this paper the Blume-Emery-Griffiths model in a thin film of stacked triangular lattices.The model is described by three parameters: bilinear exchange interaction between spins $J$, quadratic exchange interaction $K$ and single-ion anisotropy $D$. The spin $S\_i$ at the lattice site $i$ takes three values $(-1,0,+1)$.This model can describe the mixing phase of He-4 ($S\_i =+1,-1$) and He-3 ($S\_i =0$) at low temperatures.Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that there exists a critical value of $D$ below (above) which the transition is of second-(first-)order.In general, the temperature dependence of the concentrations of He-3 is different from layer by layer. At a finite temperature in the superfluid phase, the film surface shows a deficit of He-4 with respect to interior layers. However, effects of surface interaction parameters can reverse this situation. Effects of the film thickness on physical properties will be also shown as functions of temperature.Comment: To appear in Modern Physics Letters B (2015

Competition between supersolid phases and magnetisation plateaux in the frustrated easy-axis antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice

The majority of magnetic materials possess some degree of magnetic anisotropy, either at the level of a single ion, or in the exchange interactions between different magnetic ions. Where these exchange interactions are also frustrated, the competition between them and anisotropy can stabilize a wide variety of new phases in applied magnetic field. Motivated by the hexagonal delafossite 2H-AgNiO 2, we study the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a layered triangular lattice with competing first- and second-neighbour interactions and single-ion easy-axis anisotropy. Using a combination of classical Monte Carlo simulation, mean-field analysis, and Landau theory, we establish the magnetic phase diagram of this model as a function of temperature and magnetic field for a fixed ratio of exchange interactions, but with values of easy-axis anisotropy D extending from the Heisenberg (D =0) to the Ising (D=&#8734) limits. We uncover a rich variety of different magnetic phases. These include several phases which are magnetic supersolids (in the sense of Matsuda and Tstuneto or Liu and Fisher), one of which may already have been observed in AgNiO 2. We explore how this particular supersolid arises through the closing of a gap in the spin-wave spectrum, and how it competes with rival collinear phases as the easy-axis anisotropy is increased. The finite temperature properties of this phase are found to be different from those of any previously studied magnetic supersolid.Comment: 25 pages; 29 figures; minor revisions; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A Monte Carlo study of critical properties of strongly diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As

Within a Monte Carlo technique we examine critical properties of diluted bulk magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As modeled by a strongly diluted ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-$\frac{5}{2}$ system on a face centered cubic lattice. We assumed that 5\% of Ga atoms is substituted by Mn atoms and the interaction between them is of the RKKY-type. The considered system is randomly quenched and a double average was performed: firstly, over the Boltzmann probability distribution and secondly - over 2048 configurations related to the quenched disorder. We estimated the critical temperature: $T_c=97\pm6$ K, which is in agreement with the experiment. The calculated high value of critical exponent $\nu$ seems to point to a possibility of non-universal critical behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Loop algorithm for classical Heisenberg models with spin-ice type degeneracy

In many frustrated Ising models, a single-spin flip dynamics is frozen out at low temperatures compared to the dominant interaction energy scale because of the discrete "multiple valley" structure of degenerate ground-state manifold. This makes it difficult to study low-temperature physics of these frustrated systems by using Monte Carlo simulation with the standard single-spin flip algorithm. A typical example is the so-called spin ice model, frustrated ferromagnets on the pyrochlore lattice. The difficulty can be avoided by a global-flip algorithm, the loop algorithm, that enables to sample over the entire discrete manifold and to investigate low-temperature properties. We extend the loop algorithm to Heisenberg spin systems with strong easy-axis anisotropy in which the ground-state manifold is continuous but still retains the spin-ice type degeneracy. We examine different ways of loop flips and compare their efficiency. The extended loop algorithm is applied to the following two models, a Heisenberg antiferromagnet with easy-axis anisotropy along the z axis, and a Heisenberg spin ice model with the local easy-axis anisotropy. For both models, we demonstrate high efficiency of our loop algorithm by revealing the low-temperature properties which were hard to access by the standard single-spin flip algorithm. For the former model, we examine the possibility of order-from-disorder and critically check its absence. For the latter model, we elucidate a gas-liquid-solid transition, namely, crossover or phase transition among paramagnet, spin-ice liquid, and ferromagnetically-ordered ice-rule state.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.