Neutron scattering study of two-magnon states in the quantum magnet copper nitrate

We report measurements of the two-magnon states in a dimerized antiferromagnetic chain material, copper nitrate [Cu(NO3)(2).2.5D(2)O]. Using inelastic neutron scattering we have measured the one- and two-magnon excitation spectra in a large single crystal. The data are in excellent agreement with a perturbative expansion of the alternating Heisenberg Hamiltonian from the strongly dimerized limit. The expansion predicts a two-magnon bound state for qsimilar to(2n+1)pid which is consistent with the neutron scattering data.