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Distinct spinon and holon dispersions in photoemission spectral functions from one-dimensional SrCuO2

Nature Physics volume 2, pages 397–401 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Spin and charge are inseparable traits of an electron, but in one-dimensional solids, theory predicts their separation into collective modes—as independent excitation quanta (or particles) called spinons and holons. Experimentalists have long sought to verify this effect. Angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) should provide the most direct evidence of spin–charge separation, as the single quasiparticle peak splits into a spinon–holon two-peak-like structure. Despite extensive ARPES experiments, the unambiguous observation of the two-peak structure has remained elusive. Here we report ARPES data from SrCuO2, made possible by recent technological developments, that unequivocally show the spinon–holon two-peak structure and their distinct dispersions. The spinon and holon branches are found to have energy scales of ∼0.43 and 1.3 eV, respectively, which are in quantitative agreement with the theoretical predictions.

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Figure 1: Schematic view of an electron-removal excitation spectrum from a 1D system with antiferromagnetic correlation.
Figure 2: Crystal structure, cleavage plane and relevant orbitals.
Figure 3: EDCs and dispersions.
Figure 4: Colour-scale plot of ARPES data from SrCuO2.
Figure 5: Analysis of the k||=Γ spectral function.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported (in part) by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation through the Center for Strongly Correlated Materials Research. Z.-X.S. acknowledges support from DOE contract DE-FG03-01ER45929-A001. ALS is operated by the DOE's Office of BES, Division of Materials Science, under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Center for Strongly Correlated Materials Research, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    B. J. Kim & S.-J. Oh

  2. Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    H. Koh & E. Rotenberg

  3. Nanoelectronic Research Institute, AIST, Tsukuba, 305-0032, Japan

    H. Eisaki

  4. Department of Superconductivity, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    N. Motoyama & S. Uchida

  5. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    T. Tohyama & S. Maekawa

  6. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan

    S. Maekawa

  7. Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    Z.-X. Shen

  8. Institute of Physics and Applied Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    C. Kim

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  1. B. J. Kim
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Kim, B., Koh, H., Rotenberg, E. et al. Distinct spinon and holon dispersions in photoemission spectral functions from one-dimensional SrCuO2. Nature Phys 2, 397–401 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys316

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