326 Ch.

6 Heisenberg Magnets

spin liquid dimer Haldane dimer

At gapless gapfull gapfull gapfull

Figure 6.3: A schematic representation of T = 0 phase transitions in isotropic

spin chains shows a marked difference in the behaviour of half-integer and integer
spin systems. Left The S = 1/2 J1-Jz model (6.139)passes from a critical (gapless)
phase to a massive phase at a,, ( a = J z / J , ) . Initially, the spin gap A is exponentially
small. - Right: The S = 1 bilinear-biquadratic model (6.147)has a critical point
between too massive singlet phases.

a small IQ/JI; this is well inside the Haldane phase and we have seen

manding IQ/JI -
experimental evidence for the Haldane gap. More exotic phases, de-
1 (or larger) are unlikely to be realized.

6.3.3 The CaV409 Story

The remarkable compound CaV409 offers the chance to witness the
competition of the three qualitatively different kinds of behavior of an
isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet: Nkel order, valence bond solid,
and resonating singlet bonds. The V ions have a single 3d-electron,
so we are dealing with S = 1/2 spins42. The material is quasi-two-
dimensional, and the arrangement of the V ions in a plane is shown in
Fig. 6.4 (upper left). The structure can be understood as a network
of square plaquettes interconnected by bonds of strength J 2 , while the
coupling within the plaquettes is J1. We assume that neighbouring spins
interact like J l S , - S,, or J2S, - S,, whichever is appropriate.
The lattice is bipartite with coordination number z = 3, thus it is
well suited for antiferromagnetic order (Fig. 6.4, lower right). Two-
sublattice Nkel order, which does not distinguish between the two kinds
of bonds, is likely if J1 M J 2 . However, if one of the bond strengths
is significantly greater than the other, the system will surely prefer to
42Therole of the orbital degrees of freedom is a matter of continuing debate.