Phase diagram of the quadrumerized Shastry-Sutherland model -: art. no. 014401

We determine the phase diagram of a generalized Shastry-Sutherland model, using a combination of dimer- and quadrumer-boson methods and numerical exact diagonalization techniques. Along special lines in the parameter space the model reduces to the standard Shastry-Sutherland model, the 1/5th depleted square lattice and the two-dimensional plaquette square lattice model. We study the evolution of the ordered phases found in the latter two unfrustrated models under the effect of frustration. Furthermore we present exact diagonalization results for the Shastry-Sutherland model on clusters with up to 32 sites, supporting the existence of an intermediate gapped valence bond crystal phase with plaquette long-range order.