Partial Ferrimagnetism in S = 1/2 Heisenberg Ladders with a Ferromagnetic Leg, an Antiferromagnetic Leg, and Antiferromagnetic Rungs

Ground-state and finite-temperature properties of S = 1/2 Heisenberg ladders with a ferromagnetic leg, an antiferromagnetic leg, and antiferromagnetic rungs are studied. It is shown that a partial ferrimagnetic phase extends over a wide parameter range in the ground state. The numerical results are supported by an analytical calculation based on a mapping onto the nonlinear σ model and a perturbation calculation from the strong-rung limit. It is shown that the partial ferrimagnetic state is a spontaneously magnetized Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid with incommensurate magnetic correlation, which is confirmed by a DMRG calculation. The finite-temperature magnetic susceptibility is calculated using the thermal pure quantum state method. It is suggested that the susceptibility diverges as T-2 in the ferrimagnetic phases as in the case of ferromagnetic Heisenberg chains.