Thiago Schlittler 1 Thomas Barthel 2, 3 Grégoire Misguich 4, * Julien Vidal 1 Rémy Mosseri 1
Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society, 2015, 115, pp.217202. <http://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.217202>. <10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.217202>
We introduce a quantum dimer model on the hexagonal lattice that, in addition to the standard three-dimer kinetic and potential terms, includes a competing potential part counting dimer-free hexagons. The zero-temperature phase diagram is studied by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations , supplemented by variational arguments. It reveals some new crystalline phases and a cascade of transitions with rapidly changing flux (tilt in the height language). We analyze perturbatively the vicinity of the Rokhsar-Kivelson point, showing that this model has the microscopic ingredients needed for the » devil’s staircase » scenario [E. Fradkin et al. Phys. Rev. B 69, 224415 (2004)], and is therefore expected to produce fractal variations of the ground-state flux.
- 1. LPTMC – Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée
- 2. LPTMS – Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques
- 3. Duke university [Durham]
- 4. IPHT – Institut de Physique Théorique – UMR CNRS 3681