Short range smectic order driving long range nematic order: example of cuprates

Area of Science:

• Condensed matter physics
• Materials science

Background:

• Cuprates exhibit complex electronic orders, including nematic and smectic phases.
• Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals nanoscale electronic inhomogeneities in cuprates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model the interplay between nematic and smectic orders in cuprates.
• To explain the observed domain structures and phase coexistence in experimental data.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of electronic charge density waves and strain coupling.
• Incorporation of disorder effects to explain domain confinement.

Main Results:

• A theoretical framework describing the combined nematic and smectic orders.
• The smectic order is modeled as a charge density wave with Peierls distortion.
• Disorder restricts primary smectic order to nanoscale domains.
• Strain coupling generates longer-range secondary nematic order.

Conclusions:

• The proposed model successfully explains the coexistence and characteristics of nematic and smectic orders in cuprates.
• The findings are consistent with various experimental observations from STM.
• This work provides a theoretical basis for understanding complex electronic phases in correlated materials.