Physicists observe the splitting of an electron inside a solid

PSI scientist Thorsten Schmitt (left) and post-doc Kejin Zhou (right) at the RIXS measuring station of the ADRESS beamline at SLS, where they are inserting a sample into the measuring apparatus. Here, X-rays are used for investigating materials with very high precision. (Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
PSI scientist Thorsten Schmitt (left) and post-doc Kejin Zhou (right) at the RIXS measuring station of the ADRESS beamline at SLS, where they are inserting a sample into the measuring apparatus. Here, X-rays are used for investigating materials with very high precision. (Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
An electron has been observed to decay into two separate parts, each carrying a particular property of the electron: a spinon carrying its spin – the property making the electron behave as a tiny compass needle – and an orbiton carrying its orbital moment – which arises from the electron’s motion around the nucleus. These newly created particles, however, cannot leave the material in which they have been produced. This result is reported in a paper published in Nature by an international team of researchers led by experimental physicists from the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) and theoretical physicists from the IFW Dresden (Germany).

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Facility: SLS
Reference
Spin-Orbital Separation in the quasi 1D Mott-insulator Sr2CuO3
J. Schlappa, K. Wohlfeld, K. J. Zhou, M. Mourigal, M. W. Haverkort, V. N. Strocov, L. Hozoi, C. Monney, S. Nishimoto, S. Singh, A. Revcolevschi, J.-S. Caux, L. Patthey, H. M. Rønnow, J. van den Brink, and T. Schmitt;
Nature Advance Online Publication, 18.04.2012, DOI: 10.1038/nature10974
Contact
Dr. Thorsten Schmitt (experimentation)
Laboratory for Condensed Matter, Research Division Synchrotron Radiation and Nanotechnology,
Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland;
Tel: +41 56 310 37 62, E-Mail: thorsten.schmitt@psi.ch
http://www.psi.ch/sls/adress/

Prof. Dr. Jeroen van den Brink (theory)
Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics,
IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany;
Tel: +49/(0)351/4659-400, E-Mail: j.van.den.brink@ifw-dresden.de
http://www.ifw-dresden.de/institutes/itf/members/jvdb1