Stripe dynamics in presence of disorder and lattice potentials

TL;DR

This paper investigates how disorder and lattice effects influence the behavior of charged stripes in materials, identifying different pinning regimes and comparing theoretical predictions with experimental data on nickelates and cuprates.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological model for a discrete quantum string to analyze stripe dynamics under disorder and lattice pinning, mapping it to Josephson junction arrays.

Findings

Identified three regimes: free, lattice-pinned, and disorder-pinned phases.

Mapped the system to a 1D Josephson junction array in the absence of impurities.

Achieved qualitative agreement with experimental measurements on nickelates and cuprates.

Abstract

We study the influence of disorder and lattice pinning on the dynamics of a charged stripe. Starting from a phenomenological model of a discrete quantum string, we determine the phase diagram for this system. Three regimes are identified, the free phase, the flat phase pinned by the lattice, and the disorder pinned phase. In the absence of impurities, the system can be mapped onto a 1D array of Josephson junctions. The results are compared with measurements on nickelates and cuprates and a good qualitative agreement is found between our results and the experimental data.