Motivated by the ever-increasing experimental effort devoted to the
properties of frustrated quantum magnets in a magnetic field, we present a
careful and detailed theoretical analysis of a one-dimensional version of this
problem, a frustrated ladder with a magnetization plateau at m=1/2. We show
that even for purely isotropic Heisenberg interactions, the magnetization curve
exhibits a rather complex behavior that can be fully accounted for in terms of
simple elementary excitations. The introduction of anisotropic interactions
(e.g., Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions) modifies significantly the picture
and reveals an essential difference between integer and fractional plateaux. In
particular, anisotropic interactions generically open a gap in the region
between the plateaux, but we show that this gap closes upon entering fractional
plateaux. All of these conclusions, based on analytical arguments, are
supported by extensive Density Matrix Renormalization Group calculations.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures. minor changes in tex