Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 121
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-70057-y

Regular Article

Alternating-spin S = 3/2 and σ = 1/2 Heisenberg chain with isotropic three-body exchange interactions

¹ Department of Physics, Bielefeld University, P.O. Box 100131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
² Institute of Solid State Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Tzarigradsko chaussee 72, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
³ Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics, University of Applied Sciences, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany

^a e-mail: jschnack@uni-bielefeld.de

Received: 26 January 2016
Received in final form: 24 March 2016
Published online: 12 May 2016

Abstract

The promotion of collinear classical spin configurations as well as the enhanced tendency towards nearest-neighbor clustering of the quantum spins are typical features of the frustrating isotropic three-body exchange interactions in Heisenberg spin systems. Based on numerical density-matrix renormalization group calculations, we demonstrate that these extra interactions in the Heisenberg chain constructed from alternating S = 3/2 and σ = 1/2 site spins can generate numerous specific quantum spin states, including some partially-polarized ferrimagnetic states as well as a doubly-degenerate non-magnetic gapped phase. In the non-magnetic region of the phase diagram, the model describes a crossover between the spin-1 and spin-2 Haldane-type states.