We find nearly all the exact ground states of a mixture of two species of spin-1 atoms with both interspecies and intraspecies spin exchanges in the absence of a magnetic field. The quantum phase diagram in the three-dimensional parameter space and its two-dimensional cross sections are described. The boundaries where the ground states are either continuous or discontinuous are determined, with the latter identified as where quantum phase transitions take place. The two species are always disentangled if the interspecies spin coupling is ferromagnetic or zero. Quantum phase transitions occur when the interspecies spin coupling varies between antiferromagnetic and zero or ferromagnetic while the two intraspecies spin couplings both remain ferromagnetic. On the other hand, by tuning the interspecies spin coupling from zero to antiferromagnetic and then back to zero, one can circumvent the quantum phase transition due to sign change of the intraspecies spin coupling of a single species, which is spin decoupled with the other species with ferromagnetic intraspecies spin coupling. Generally speaking, interplay among interspecies and two intraspecies spin exchanges significantly enriches quantum phases of spinor atomic gases.

• Received 23 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.013616