Topological nature of magnetization plateaus in periodically modulated quantum spin chains
Topological nature of magnetization plateaus in periodically modulated quantum spin chains
We unveil nontrivial topological properties of zero-temperature magnetization plateau states in periodically modulated quantum spin chains under a uniform magnetic field. As positions of plateaus are uniquely determined by the modulation period of exchange couplings, we find that the topologically nontrivial plateau state can be characterized by a nonzero integer …