Multi-particle States in Spin-1 Chain System CsNiCl3

A continuum of magnetic states has been observed by neutron scattering from the spin-1 chain compound CsNiCl3 in its disordered gapped one-dimensional phase. Results using both triple-axis and time-of-flight spectrometers show that around the antiferromagnetic point Qc=pi, the continuum lies higher in energy than the Haldane gapped excitations. At 6K the integrated intensity of the continuum is about 12(2)% of the total spectral weight. This result is considerably larger than the 1-3% weight predicted by the non-linear sigma model for the 3-particle continuum.