Charge stripe order from antiphase spin spirals in the spin-Fermion model

TL;DR

This paper shows that in the spin-Fermion model, antiphase spin spirals called pi-spirals become energetically favorable at high carrier concentrations and can lead to charge stripe formation, relevant to cuprate physics.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of pi-spirals as a lower-energy ground state in the spin-Fermion model and links them to charge stripe phenomena in cuprates.

Findings

Pi-spirals are energetically favored at high doping levels.

Pi-spirals induce modulated hopping and charge density waves.

Relevance to charge stripe formation in cuprates like La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO4.

Abstract

We revisit the ground state of the spin-Fermion model within a semiclassical approximation. We demonstrate that antiphase spin spirals, or pi-spirals, whose chirality alternates between consecutive rows (or columns) of local moments, have, for sufficiently high carrier concentration, lower energy than the traditional Shraiman and Siggia spirals. Furthermore, pi-spirals give rise to modulated hopping, anisotropic 1D transport, and charge density wave formation. Finally, we discuss the relevance of pi-spirals to the physics of charge stripe formation in cuprates, such as La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO4.