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

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 and M. C. Aronson
Additional contact information
W. J. Gannon: Texas A&M University
I. A. Zaliznyak: Brookhaven National Laboratory
L. S. Wu: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08715-y

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