The road from one hole to the stripe phase

TL;DR

This paper explains how individual holes in a low doping regime of the t-J model lead to the formation of stripe phases through dipolar interactions, with implications for understanding phase transitions in correlated materials.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of hole-dipole configurations and their evolution into stripe phases within the phase string model, highlighting a mechanism for stripe formation.

Findings

Holes induce dipolar distortions in the spin background.

Holes tend to form regular polygon configurations.

Large numbers of holes form stable stripe states.

Abstract

In this paper, it is shown how a single stripe and a stripe phase grow from individual holes in low doping regime. In an effective low-energy description of the t-J model, {\em i.e.,} the phase string model, a hole doped into the spin ordered phase will induce a dipolar distortion in the background [Phys. Rev. B{\bf 67}, 115103 (2003)]. We analyze the hole-dipole configurations with lowest energy under a dipole-dipole interaction and show that these holes tend to arrange themselves into a regular polygon. Such a stable polygon configuration will turn into a stripe as the number hole-dipoles becomes thermodynamically large and eventually a uniform stripe state can be formed, which constitutes an energetically competitive phase at low doping. We also briefly discuss the effect of Zn impurities on individual hole-dipoles and stripes.