ChainAntiferromagnetBaCo2V2O8.PDFVIP

PRL 114, 017201 (2015) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS week ending 9 JANUARY 2015 Longitudinal and Transverse Zeeman Ladders in the Ising-Like Chain Antiferromagnet BaCo2V2O8 B. Grenier,1,2,* S. Petit,3 V. Simonet,4,5 E. Canévet,6 L.-P. Regnault,1,2 S. Raymond,1,2 B. Canals,4,5 C. Berthier,7,8 and P. Lejay4,5 1Université Grenoble Alpes, INAC–SPSMS, F-38000 Grenoble, France 2CEA, INAC–SPSMS, F-38000 Grenoble, France 3Laboratoire Léon Brillouin, CEA–CNRS, CEA-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France 4CNRS, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France 5Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France 6Institut Laue-Langevin, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France 7Université Grenoble Alpes, Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, F-38000 Grenoble, France 8CNRS, Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, F-38000 Grenoble, France (Received 24 June 2014; published 6 January 2015) We explore the spin dynamics emerging from the Néel phase of the chain compound antiferromagnet BaCo2V2O8. Our inelastic neutron scattering study reveals unconventional discrete spin excitations, socalled Zeeman ladders, understood in terms of spinon confinement, due to the interchain attractive linear potential. These excitations consist of two interlaced series of modes, respectively, with transverse and longitudinal polarization. The latter, which correspond to a longitudinal fluctuation of the ordered moment, have no classical counterpart and are related to the zero-point fluctuations that weaken the ordered moment in weakly coupled quantum chains. Our analysis reveals that BaCo2V2O8, with moderate Ising anisotropy and sizable interchain interactions, remarkably fulfills the conditions necessary for the observation of discrete long-lived longitudinal excitations. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.017201 PACS numbers: 75.10.Pq, 75.30.Ds, 75.50.Ee, 78.70.Nx The nature of the excitations in spin half antiferromagnets is a topic of considerable current interest in the f