Disorder induced stripes in d-wave superconductors

Abstract

Stripe phases are observed experimentally in several copper-based high- T _c superconductors near 1/8 hole doping. However, the specific characteristics may vary depending on the degree of dopant disorder and the presence or absence of a low-temperature tetragonal phase. On the basis of a Hartree–Fock decoupling scheme for the t – J model, we discuss the diverse behavior of stripe phases. In particular, the effect of inhomogeneities is investigated in two distinctly different parameter regimes which are characterized by the strength of the interaction. We observe that small concentrations of impurities or vortices pin the unidirectional density waves, and dopant disorder is capable of stabilizing a stripe phase in parameter regimes where homogeneous phases are typically favored in clean systems. The momentum-space results exhibit universal features for all coexisting density-wave solutions, nearly unchanged even in strongly disordered systems. These coexisting solutions feature generically a full energy gap and a particle–hole asymmetry in the density of states.