Disordered Flat Phase in a Solid on Solid Model of Fcc(110) Surfaces and Dimer States in Quantum Spin-1/2 Chains
Abstract
We present a restricted solid on solid hamiltonian for fcc (110) surfaces. It is the simplest generalization of the exactly solvable BCSOS model which is able to describe a
(2×1)
missing-row reconstructed surface. We study this model by mapping it onto a quantum spin-1/2 chain of the Heisenberg type, with second and third neighbor
S
z
i
S
z
j
couplings. The ground state phase diagram of the spin-chain model is studied by exact diagonalization of finite chains up to
N=28
sites, as well as through analytical techniques. We find four phases in the phase diagram: two ordered phases in which the spins have a Néel-type of long range order (an unreconstructed and a missing-row reconstructed phase, in the surface language), a spin liquid phase (representing a rough surface), and an intermediate dimer phase which breaks translational invariance and has a doubly degenerate ground state, corresponding to a disordered flat surface. The transition from the
(2×1)
reconstructed phase to the disordered flat phase belongs to the
2D
Ising universality class. A critical (preroughening) line with varying exponents separates the unreconstructed phase from the disordered flat phase. The possible experimental signatures of the disordered flat phase are discussed.