Macroscopic magnetization jumps due to independent magnons in frustrated quantum spin lattices.
For a class of frustrated spin lattices including the Kagomé lattice we construct exact eigenstates consisting of several independent, localized one-magnon states and argue that they are ground states for high magnetic fields. If the maximal number of local magnons scales with the number of spins in the system, which is the case for the Kagomé lattice, the effect persists in the thermodynamic limit and gives rise to a macroscopic jump in the zero-temperature magnetization curve just below the saturation field. The effect decreases with increasing spin quantum number and vanishes in the classical limit. Thus it is a true macroscopic quantum effect.
Schulenburg
J
J
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Magdeburg, P.O. Box 4120, D-39016 Magdeburg, Germany.
Honecker
A
A
Schnack
J
J
Richter
J
J
Schmidt
H-J
HJ