The mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Blume-Capel model by renormalization group approach

Abstract

Purpose

The authors investigate the magnetic properties of a mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Blume-Capel model on square and cubic lattices with two different single-ion anisotropies.

Design/methodology/approach

To study the critical behavior of a mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 system, the authors have used a real space renormalization group approximation and specifically the Migdal-Kadanoff technique. The authors give the phase diagrams for two different cases: (1) on the (Δ/|J|, 1/|J|) plane with Δ_A = Δ_B = Δ, and (2) on the (Δ_A/|J|, 1/|J|) and (Δ_B/|J|, 1/|J|) planes for selected values of Δ_B/|J| and Δ_A/|J|, respectively.

Findings

The phase diagrams obtained show that the system exhibits both second- and first-order phase transitions as well as tricritical points for some values of the anisotropies. Moreover, using the variation of the free energy and its derivative at low temperatures, the authors have seen the appearance of first-order transitions at very low temperatures.

Originality/value

Few investigations of mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 systems with crystal field have been realized. For this reason, the authors use the renormalization group approach to complete the work done on these systems. In absence of an exact solution, this contributes to the synthesis of the approximation results on mixed spins models.

Citation

El Kihel, K., Saadi, H., Aharrouch, R., El Antari, A., Hachem, N., Madani, M. and El Bouziani, M. (2021), "The mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Blume-Capel model by renormalization group approach", Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 861-881. https://doi.org/10.1108/MMMS-03-2021-0060