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arXiv:0812.3880 · Physical Review Letters

Direct Observation of Magnon Fractionalization in the Quantum Spin Ladder

B. Thielemann, Christian Rüegg, Henrik Moodysson Rønnow, Andreas Martin Läuchli, Jean-Sébastien Caux, Bruce Normand, Daniel A. Biner, Karl W. Krämer, H. U. Güdel, Jochen Stahn, Klaus Habicht, Klaus H. Kiefer, Martin Boehm, MCMORROW Desmond Francis, J. Mesot

Published Mar 13, 2009• 116 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We measure by inelastic neutron scattering the spin excitation spectra as a function of applied magnetic field in the quantum spin-ladder material (C5H12N)2CuBr4. Discrete magnon modes at low fields in the quantum disordered phase and at high fields in the saturated phase contrast sharply with a spinon continuum at intermediate fields characteristic of the Luttinger-liquid phase. By tuning the magnetic field, we drive the fractionalization of magnons into spinons and, in this deconfined regime, observe both commensurate and incommensurate continua.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.102.107204

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We measure by inelastic neutron scattering the spin excitation spectra as a function of applied magnetic field in the quantum spin-ladder material (C5H12N)2CuBr4. Discrete magnon modes at low fields in the quantum disordered phase and at high fields in the saturated phase contrast sharply with a spinon continuum at intermediate fields characteristic of the Luttinger-liquid phase. By tuning the magnetic field, we drive the fractionalization of magnons into spinons and, in this deconfined regime, observe both commensurate and incommensurate continua.
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This PhD thesis concerns the physics of low-dimensional quantum systems and especially quantum spin ladders. Novel metal-organic compounds (C5H12N)2CuBr4 and (C5H12N)2CuCl4 are investigated as model materials for low-dimensional quantum behavior by neutron scattering experiments and by measurements of magnetic and thermodynamic properties. The experimental results are compared quantitatively to calculations using a variety of theoretical and numerical methods (DMRG, ED) of the ground state and excitations of such systems. Key results are the determination of the Hamiltonian and its exchange parameters of (C5H12N)2CuCl4 studied here for the first time from quantitative modelling of magnetic susceptibility and neutron spectroscopy data. When a magnetic field is applied two quantum critical points occur at which fractionalization of the elementary quasi-particle excitations is ob- served. The characteristic excitation continua are explained by effective spin-chain and t-J models and are observed systematically as a function of magnetic field and temperature. Coherent and incoherent spin Luttinger-liquid physics is observed and for the first time modelled fully quantitatively. The chemical flexibility of the these metal-organic compounds allows continuous solid-state mixtures of Br and Cl resulting in systems with quenched disorder. The rung and leg exchange parameters assume discrete values given by the specific chemical composition of the exchange pathways. The influence of such quenched disorder on the excitations of quantum spin ladders has been studied experimentally. The observed spectra with damped excitations of the unperturbed ladder and more localized modes provide detailed insights into the physics that may be observed in such systems if a magnetic field is applied and so called Bose glass phases are induced.
We calculate the contribution of deconfined spinons to inelastic neutron scattering (INS) in the fractionalized antiferromagnet (AF*), introduced elsewhere. We find that the presence of free spin-1/2 charge-less excitations leads to a continuum INS signal above the Néel gap. This signal is found above and in addition to the usual spin-1 magnon signal, which to lowest order is the same as in the more conventional confined antiferromagnet. We calculate the relative weights of these two signals and find that the spinons contribute to the longitudinal response, where the magnon signal is absent to lowest order. Possible higher-order effects of interactions between magnons and spinons in the AF* phase are also discussed.