English

Fluctuation-induced ferrimagnetism in sublattice-imbalanced antiferromagnets with application to SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ under pressure

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2021-08-16 v2

Abstract

We show that a collinear Heisenberg antiferromagnet, whose sublattice symmetry is broken at the Hamiltonian level, becomes a fluctuation-induced ferrimagnet at any finite temperature TT below the N\'eel temperature TNT_{\rm N}. We demonstrate this using a layered variant of a square-lattice J1J_1-J2J_2 model. Linear spin-wave theory is used to determine the low-temperature behavior of the uniform magnetization, and non-linear corrections are argued to yield a temperature-induced qualitative change of the magnon spectrum. We then consider a layered Shastry-Sutherland model, describing a frustrated arrangement of orthogonal dimers. This model displays an antiferromagnetic phase for large intra-dimer couplings. A lattice distortion which breaks the glide symmetry between the two types of dimers corresponds to broken sublattice symmetry and hence gives rise to ferrimagnetism. Given indications that such a distortion is present in the material SrCu2_2(BO3_3)2_2 under hydrostatic pressure, we suggest the existence of a fluctuation-induced ferrimagnetic phase in pressurized SrCu2_2(BO3_3)2_2. We predict a non-monotonic behavior of the uniform magnetization as function of temperature.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.08088,
  title  = {Fluctuation-induced ferrimagnetism in sublattice-imbalanced antiferromagnets with application to SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ under pressure},
  author = {Pedro M. Cônsoli and Max Fornoville and Matthias Vojta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.08088},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

11 pages, 10 figures; extended discussion on application to SrCu2(BO3)2 + minor changes, v2 as published