Bound Spinons in an Antiferromagnetic S=1/2 Chain with a Staggered Field

Inelastic neutron scattering was used to measure the magnetic field dependence of spin excitations in the antiferromagnetic S=1/2 chain CuCl₂·2(dimethylsulfoxide) in the presence of uniform and staggered fields. Dispersive bound states emerge from a zero-field two-spinon continuum with different finite energy minima at wave numbers q=π and q_i≈π(1-2〈S_z〉). The ratios of the field dependent excitation energies are in excellent agreement with predictions for breather and soliton solutions to the quantum sine-Gordon model, the proposed low-energy theory for S=1/2 chains in a staggered field. The data are also consistent with the predicted soliton and n=1,2 breather polarizations and scattering cross sections.