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Spinon confinement and a sharp longitudinal mode in Yb2Pt2Pb in magnetic fields

Author

Listed:
  • W. J. Gannon

    (Texas A&M University
    University of British Columbia)

  • I. A. Zaliznyak

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • L. S. Wu

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    South University of Science and Technology of China)

  • A. E. Feiguin

    (Northeastern University)

  • A. M. Tsvelik

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • F. Demmel

    (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)

  • Y. Qiu

    (National Institute of Standards and Technology)

  • J. R. D. Copley

    (National Institute of Standards and Technology)

  • M. S. Kim

    (Stony Brook University)

  • M. C. Aronson

    (Texas A&M University
    University of British Columbia)

Abstract

The fundamental excitations in an antiferromagnetic chain of spins-1/2 are spinons, de-confined fractional quasiparticles that when combined in pairs, form a triplet excitation continuum. In an Ising-like spin chain the continuum is gapped and the ground state is Néel ordered. Here, we report high resolution neutron scattering experiments, which reveal how a magnetic field closes this gap and drives the spin chains in Yb2Pt2Pb to a critical, disordered Luttinger-liquid state. In Yb2Pt2Pb the effective spins-1/2 describe the dynamics of large, Ising-like Yb magnetic moments, ensuring that the measured excitations are exclusively longitudinal, which we find to be well described by time-dependent density matrix renormalization group calculations. The inter-chain coupling leads to the confinement of spinons, a condensed matter analog of quark confinement in quantum chromodynamics. Insensitive to transverse fluctuations, our measurements show how a gapless, dispersive longitudinal mode arises from confinement and evolves with magnetic order.

Suggested Citation

  • W. J. Gannon & I. A. Zaliznyak & L. S. Wu & A. E. Feiguin & A. M. Tsvelik & F. Demmel & Y. Qiu & J. R. D. Copley & M. S. Kim & M. C. Aronson, 2019. "Spinon confinement and a sharp longitudinal mode in Yb2Pt2Pb in magnetic fields," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-08715-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08715-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Madalynn Marshall & Brianna R. Billingsley & Xiaojian Bai & Qianli Ma & Tai Kong & Huibo Cao, 2023. "Field-induced partial disorder in a Shastry-Sutherland lattice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.

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