Magnetization Curves of Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Spin-1/2 Ladders

Abstract

Magnetization processes of spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladders are studied using strong-coupling expansions, numerical diagonalization of finite systems and a bosonization approach. We find that the magnetization exhibits plateaux as a function of the applied field at certain rational fractions of the saturation value. Our main focus are ladders with 3 legs where plateaux with magnetization one third of the saturation value are shown to exist.

5 pages REVTeX, 4 PostScript figures included using psfig.sty; this is the final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett