Quantum-classical phase transition of escape rate in biaxial spin system with an arbitrarily directed magnetic field

Abstract

We investigate the escape rate of a biaxial spin particle with an arbitrarily dierected magnetic field in the easy plane, described by Hamiltonian ${\cal H} = -AS_z^2 - BS_x^2 -H_x S_x -H_z S_z, (A>B>0)$. We derive an effective particle potential by using the method of particle mapping. With the help of the criterion for the presence of a first-order quantum-classical transition of the escape rate we obtained various phase boundary curves depending on the anisotropy parameter $b \equiv B/A$ and the field parameters $\alpha_{x,z} \equiv H_{x,z}/AS$ : $\alpha_{zc}(b_c)'s, \alpha_{xc}(b_c)'s$, and $\alpha_{zc} = \alpha_{zc}(\alpha_{xc})$. It is found from $\alpha_{zc}(b_c)'s$ and $\alpha_{xc}(b_c)'s$ that the-first-order region decreases as $b$ and $\alpha_x $ (or $\alpha_z$) increase. The phase boundary line $\alpha_{zc} = \alpha_{zc}(\alpha_{xc}) shows that compared with the uniaxial system, both the first- and second-oredr regions are diminished due to the transverse anisotropy. Moreover, it is observed that, in the limit $\alpha_{xc} \to 0$, $\alpha_{zc}$ does not coinsides with the coercive field line, which yields more reduction in the first-order region. We have also computed the crossover temperatures at the phase boundary :$T_c(b_c), T_c(\alpha_{xc}, \alpha_{zc})$.