Mixed-spin systems: coexistence of the haldane gap and antiferromagnetic long-range order

Abstract

Recent experiments on the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) antiferromagnets R₂BaNiO₅ (R=rare earth) have shown the existence of purely 1D Haldane gap excitations propagating on the Ni chains. Below an ordering temperature, the gap excitations survive and coexist with the conventional spin waves in the ordered phase. We construct a model mixed-spin system in 2D for which the ground state can be exactly specified. Using the matrix product method, we show the existence of Haldane gap excitations in the ordered phase. We consider different cases of ordering to study the effect of ordering on the degeneracy of the Haldane gap excitations.