Self-consistent spin-wave analysis of the 1/3 magnetization plateau in the kagome antiferromagnet

Abstract

We propose a modified spin-wave theory to study the 1/3 magnetization plateau of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice. By the self-consistent inclusion of quantum corrections, the 1/3 plateau is stabilized over a broad range of magnetic fields for all spin quantum numbers, S. The values of the critical magnetic fields and the widths of the magnetization plateaus are fully consistent with recent numerical results from exact diagonalization and infinite projected entangled paired states.