Effects of an external magnetic field on the gaps and quantum corrections in an ordered Heisenberg antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy

Abstract

We study the effects of external magnetic field on the properties of an ordered Heisenberg antiferromagnet with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. Using the spin-wave theory quantum correction to the energy, on-site magnetization, and uniform magnetization are calculated as a function of the field H and the DM anisotropy constant D. It is shown that the spin-wave excitations exhibit an unusual field-evolution of the gaps. This leads to various non-analytic dependencies of the quantum corrections on H and D. It is also demonstrated that, quite generally, the DM interaction suppresses quantum fluctuations, thus driving the system to a more classical ground state. Most of the discussion is devoted to the spin-S, two-dimensional square lattice antiferromagnet, whose S=1/2 case is closely realized in K2V3O8 where at H=0 the DM anisotropy is hidden by the easy-axis anisotropy but is revealed in a finite field. The theoretical results for the field-dependence of the spin-excitation gaps in this material are presented and the implications for other systems are discussed.