Topological structures in unconventional scenario for 2D cuprates

TL;DR

This paper introduces a pseudospin model to describe topological charge structures in 2D cuprates, revealing new topological excitations and domain walls that are invisible to X-ray detection.

Contribution

It develops a minimal S=1 pseudospin framework for cuprates, enabling systematic study of complex topological structures and phase transitions in these materials.

Findings

Identification of topologically protected inhomogeneous charge distributions

Discovery of antiphase domain walls in parent cuprates

Proposal of quadrupole skyrmions as charge excitations

Abstract

We introduce a minimal model to describe the charge degree of freedom in cuprates with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to only the three valence states CuO$_4^{7-,6-,5-}$ (nominally Cu$^{1+,2+,3+}$) and make use of the S=1 pseudospin formalism. The formalism constitutes a powerful method to study complex phenomena in interacting quantum systems characterized by the coexistence and competition of various ordered states. Overall, such a framework provides a simple and systematic methodology to predict and discover new kinds of orders. In particular, the pseudospin formalism provides the most effective way to describe different topological structures, in particular, due to a possibility of a geometrical two-vector description of the on-site states. We introduce and analyze effective pseudospin Hamiltonian with on-site and inter-site charge correlations, two types of a correlated one-particle transfer and two-particle, or the composite boson transfer. The 2D S=1 pseudospin system is prone to a creation of different topological structures, which form topologically protected inhomogeneous distributions of the eight local S=1 pseudospin order parameters. We present a short overview of localized topological structures, typical for S=1 (pseudo)spin systems, focusing on unexpected antiphase domain walls in parent cuprates and so-called quadrupole skyrmion, which are believed to be candidates for a topological charge excitation in parent or underdoped cuprates. Puzzlingly, these unconventional structures can be characterized by an uniform distribution of the mean on-site charge, that makes these invisible for X-rays. Quasiclassical approximation and computer simulation are applied to analyze localized topological defects and evolution of the domain structures in "negative-$U$" model under charge order-superfluid phase transition.