Broken discrete symmetries in a frustrated honeycomb antiferromagnet

We study the magnetic phase diagram of the J1--J2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice at the strongly frustrated point J2/J1=1/2 using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. At low temperatures we find three different field regimes, each characterized by different broken discrete symmetr...

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Autores principales: Rosales, Héctor Diego, Cabra, Daniel Carlos, Lamas, Carlos Alberto, Pujol, P., Zhitomirsky, M. E.
Formato: Articulo Preprint
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2013
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Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/99086
https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/11336/23499
https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.104402
https://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2416
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Sumario:We study the magnetic phase diagram of the J1--J2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice at the strongly frustrated point J2/J1=1/2 using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. At low temperatures we find three different field regimes, each characterized by different broken discrete symmetries. In low magnetic fields up to hc1/J1≈2.9 the Z3 rotational lattice symmetry is spontaneously broken while a 1/2-magnetization plateau is stabilized around hc2/J1=4. The collinear plateau state and the coplanar state in higher fields break the Z4 translational symmetry and correspond to triple-q magnetic structures. The intermediate phase hc1<h<hc2 has an interesting symmetry structure, breaking simultaneously the Z3 and Z4 symmetries. At much lower temperatures the spatial broken discrete symmetries coexist with the quasi long-range order of the transverse spin components.