Dynamical Ordering of Driven Stripe Phases in Quenched Disorder

TL;DR

This paper investigates how applied dc drive and quenched disorder influence stripe formation and ordering in a system with competing interactions, revealing a dynamical transition to a more ordered state under certain conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that a dc drive can induce a dynamical stripe ordering transition in disordered systems, with detailed phase diagrams and signatures in structure and transport properties.

Findings

Disorder strength above a critical value enables dynamical stripe ordering.

Dynamical reordering is detectable via structure factor and transport signatures.

The phase diagram maps the conditions for ordered and disordered states.

Abstract

We examine the dynamics and stripe formation in a system with competing short and long range interactions in the presence of both an applied dc drive and quenched disorder. Without disorder, the system forms stripes organized in a labyrinth state. We find that, when the disorder strength exceeds a critical value, an applied dc drive can induce a dynamical stripe ordering transition to a state that is more ordered than the originating undriven, unpinned pattern. We show that signatures in the structure factor and transport properties correspond to this dynamical reordering transition, and we present the dynamic phase diagram as a function of strengths of disorder and dc drive.