Field-induced phase transitions of tetramer-singlet states in synthetic SU(4) magnets

Phase transitions of quantum dimer magnets can be explained in terms of Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. Here we consider a natural extension of the dimer magnets to SU(4)-symmetric tetramer systems, which could be created with four nuclear-spin components (named u, d, c, and s) of 173Yb atoms in optical superlattices. We apply the cluster mean-field approximation to the SU(4) Heisenberg model on a tetramerized square lattice, and study the phase transition phenomena in the presence of the field that creates a population imbalance between the two components {u, d} and the other two {c, s}. When the population of the four components is balanced, the ground state is approximately given by the direct product of local SU(4)-singlet states. When the field is applied, the population ratio of the components u and d is increased and the system eventually reaches a saturated state, which is a SU(2) system with only u and d. We show that in the saturation process, the system exhibits two successive step-like transitions, in contrast to the standard dimer magnets with continuous transition process associated with Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons. The intermediate phase in between the two step-like transitions is a nontrivial solid phase with alternating arrangement of the SU(4)-singlet and four-site resonating-valence-bond states.

Automated summary

The phase transitions of SU(4)-symmetric tetramer systems exhibit two step-like transitions during the saturation process, with an intermediate phase being a nontrivial solid phase.