Field-Induced Gaps in the Frustrated Spin Ladder

Abstract

We study the magnetization process of the $S=1/2$ antiferromagnetic spin ladder in the presence of the second and the third-neighbor couplings which lead to frustration with the typical nearest-neighbor coupling. We use degenerate perturbation theory and level spectroscopy analysis of the numerical diagonalization data of the Hamiltonian for finite systems. We find two kinds of plateaux at half the saturation moment in the magnetization curve. One is mainly due to the second-neighbor couplings and the other to the third-neighbor couplings. The mechanisms of these two plateaux are quite different with each other.