Probing multi-spinon excitations outside of the two-spinon continuum in the antiferromagnetic spin chain cuprate Sr₂CuO₃.

ABSTRACT: One-dimensional (1D) magnetic insulators have attracted significant interest as a platform for studying quasiparticle fractionalization, quantum criticality, and emergent phenomena. The spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with antiferromagnetic nearest neighbour interactions is an important reference system; its elementary magnetic excitations are spin-1/2 quasiparticles called spinons that are created in even numbers. However, while the excitation continuum associated with two-spinon states is routinely observed, the study of four-spinon and higher multi-spinon states is an open area of research. Here we show that four-spinon excitations can be accessed directly in Sr₂CuO₃ using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) in a region of phase space clearly separated from the tw

SUBMITTER: Schlappa J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6300594 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature