Confinement-Deconfinement Transition as an Indication of Spin-Liquid-Type Behavior in Na$_2$IrO$_3$

TL;DR

This study uses ultrafast optical spectroscopy to reveal a confinement-deconfinement transition of spin excitations in Na$_2$IrO$_3$, indicating spin-liquid-like behavior driven by magnetic ordering and frustration effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates the first direct observation of a confinement-deconfinement transition of spin excitations in a frustrated Mott insulator, linking optical responses to spin-liquid phenomena.

Findings

Suppression of single-particle excitations below T_N

Evidence of increased binding energy of excitations

Observation of confinement-deconfinement transition of spin excitations

Abstract

We use ultrafast optical spectroscopy to observe binding of charged single-particle excitations (SE) in the magnetically frustrated Mott insulator Na$_2$IrO$_3$. Above the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature ($T_N$) the system response is due to both Hubbard excitons (HE) and their constituent unpaired SE. The SE response becomes strongly suppressed immediately below $T_N$. We argue that this increase in binding energy is due to a unique interplay between the frustrated Kitaev and the weak Heisenberg-type ordering term in the Hamiltonian, mediating an effective interaction between the spin-singlet SE. This interaction grows with distance causing the SE to become trapped in the HE, similar to quark confinement inside hadrons. This binding of charged particles, induced by magnetic ordering, is a result of a confinement-deconfinement transition of spin excitations. This observation provides evidence for spin liquid type behavior which is expected in Na$_2$IrO$_3$.