Quantum dimer phases in a frustrated spin ladder: Effective field theory approach and exact diagonalization

The phase diagram of a frustrated S=1/2 antiferromagnetic spin ladder with additional next-nearest neighbor exchanges, both diagonal and in-chain, is studied by a weak-coupling effective field theory approach combined with exact diagonalization for finite systems. In addition to two known phases with rung-singlet and Haldane-type ground states, we observe two new phases with dimerization along the chains. Furthermore, the transitions between the different phases are studied and shown to be either first order or to belong to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. The nature of elementary excitations is discussed briefly.