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Spinon Confinement in the One-Dimensional Ising-Like Antiferromagnet SrCo2V2O8

For quasi-one dimensional quantum spin systems theory predicts the occurrence of a confinement of spinon excitation due to interchain couplings. Here we investigate the system SrCo2V2O8, a realization of the weakly-coupled Ising-like XXZ antiferromagnetic chains, by terahertz spectroscopy with and without applied magnetic field. At low temperatures a series of excitations is observed, which split in a Zeeman-like fashion in an applied magnetic field. These magnetic excitations are identified as the theoretically predicted spinon-pair excitations. Using a one dimensional Schrödinger equation with a linear confinement potential imposed by weak interchain couplings, the hierarchy of the confined spinons can be fully described.