Stuffed honeycomb lattice in magnetic field

We explore the effect of magnetic field on the stuffed honeycomb lattice, a honeycomb lattice with a superimposed triangular lattice formed by sites at the center of each hexagon that interpolates between the honeycomb lattice and its dual. One potential candidate hosting this lattice is the compound GdInO₃ with large S = 7/2 Gd moments. Its phase diagram in a magnetic field is particularly interesting, as in addition to the expected 1/3 magnetization plateau, there is a mysterious magnetization jump at 2/3rds of the saturation magnetization value. In the current work, we analyze the phase diagram of the Heisenberg model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions on the stuffed honeycomb lattice in a magnetic field. We estimate that the relative magnitudes of the DM and Heisenberg interactions are similar to 3d transition metals. Interestingly, we find that the competition between DM interactions and quantum fluctuations can give rise to additional first order phase transitions that might explain the 2/3 magnetization jump.