Topological phases, like the Haldane phase in spin-1 chains, defy characterization through local order parameters. Instead, nonlocal string order parameters can be employed to reveal their hidden order. Similar diluted magnetic correlations appear in doped one-dimensional lattice systems owing to the phenomenon of spin-charge separation. Here we report on the direct observation of such hidden magnetic correlations via quantum gas microscopy of hole-doped ultracold Fermi-Hubbard chains. The measurement of nonlocal spin-density correlation functions reveals a hidden finite-range antiferromagnetic order, a direct consequence of spin-charge separation. Our technique, which measures nonlocal order directly, can be readily extended to higher dimensions to study the complex interplay between magnetic order and density fluctuations.
The ground-state properties of a spin
S=1/2 tetrameric Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain with alternating couplings
AF1-AF2-AF1-F (AF and F denote antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic couplings, respectively) are studied by means of the density-matrix renormalization-group method. Two plateaus of magnetization
m are found at
m=0 and 1/4. It is shown that in such a spin-1/2 AF system, there is a gap from the singlet ground state to the triplet excited states in the absence of a magnetic field. The spin-spin correlation function decays exponentially, and the gapped states have a nonvanishing string order, which measures a hidden symmetry in the system. By a dual transformation, the string order is transformed into a ferromagnetic order and the hidden symmetry is unveiled to be a ${Z}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{Z}_{2}$ discrete symmetry, which is fully broken in the gapped states. This half-integer spin Heisenberg AF chain is in a Haldane-like phase suggesting that the present findings extend the substance of Haldane's scenario. A valence-bond-solid state picture is also proposed for the gapped states.