Incommensurate spin Luttinger liquid phase in a model for the spin-Peierls materials TiOBr and TiOCl

Abstract

In the present work we aim to characterize the lattice configurations and the magnetic behavior in the incommensurate phase of spin-Peierls systems. This phase emerges when the magnetic exchange interaction is coupled to the distortions of an underlying triangular lattice and has its experimental realization in the quasi-one dimensional compound family TiOX (X = Cl, Br). With a simple model of spin-1/2 chains inserted in a planar triangular geometry which couples them elastically, we are able to obtain the uniform-incommensurate and incommensurate-dimerized phase transitions seen in these compounds. Moreover, we follow the evolution of the wave-vector of the distortions with temperature inside the incommensurate phase. Finally, we predict gapless spin excitations for the intermediate phase of TiOX compounds along with incommensurate spin-spin correlations. This exotic Luttinger liquid-like behavior could be observed in future experiments.