A continuous confinement-deconfinement transition in a triangular quantum magnet

Abstract

A continuous transition between phases hosting distinct excitations---bosonic magnons versus fermionic spinons---is a long-sought phenomenon in quantum magnetism, analogous to the confinement--deconfinement transition in quantum chromodynamics. We report evidence for such a transition in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet TlYbS$_2$. Antiferromagnetic order develops below $T_\mathrm{N} \approx 0.53\,\mathrm{K}$. A $c$-axis field suppresses this order, driving the system into a gapless quantum spin liquid with a spinon Fermi surface above $μ_0 H_\mathrm{c} \approx 3\,\mathrm{T}$, evidenced by a finite residual linear term in thermal conductivity, a Pauli-like susceptibility, and a temperature-independent NMR Knight shift. Approaching $H_\mathrm{c}$ from above, the scattering rate of itinerant excitations is strongly enhanced while their density of states shows no critical enhancement, atypical of conventional magnetic quantum criticality. These results point to a continuous confinement--deconfinement transition governed by fractionalized excitations beyond the Ginzburg--Landau paradigm.