Universal scaling at field-induced magnetic phase transitions

Abstract

We study field-induced magnetic order in cubic lattices of dimers with antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions. The thermal critical exponents at the quantum phase transition from a spin liquid to a magnetically ordered phase are determined from stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo simulations. These exponents are independent of the interdimer coupling ratios, and converge to the value obtained by considering the transition as a Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons, ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{BEC}}=\frac{3}{2}.$ The scaling results are of direct relevance to the spin-dimer systems ${\mathrm{TlCuCl}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{KCuCl}}_{3},$ and explain the broad range of exponents reported for field-induced ordering transitions.