Mapping the magnetostructural quantum phases of Mn3O4.

We present temperature-dependent x-ray diffraction and temperature- and field-dependent Raman scattering studies of single-crystal Mn3O4, which reveal the magnetostructural phases that evolve in the spinels due to the interplay between strong spin-orbital coupling, geometric frustration, and applied magnetic field. We present evidence that the magnetoelastic and magnetodielectric behavior in this material is governed by magnetic-field-controlled tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase changes. Most interestingly, for an applied field transverse to the ferrimagnetic ordering direction, H parallel [110], we find evidence for a field-tuned quantum phase transition to a tetragonal spin-disordered phase, indicating that a structurally symmetric, spin frustrated phase can be recovered at T approximately 0 for intermediate transverse fields in Mn3O4.

Anomalous noise in the pseudogap regime of YBa2Cu3O(7-delta).

An unusual noise component is found near and below about 250 K in the normal state of underdoped YBCO and Ca-YBCO films. This noise regime, unlike the more typical noise above 250 K, has features expected for a symmetry-breaking collective electronic state. These include large individual fluctuators, a magnetic sensitivity, and aging effects. A possible interpretation in terms of fluctuating charge nematic order is presented.

Quantum and classical mode softening near the charge-density-wave-superconductor transition of CuxTiSe2.

Temperature- and x-dependent Raman scattering studies of the charge-density-wave (CDW) amplitude modes in Cu(x)TiSe(2) show that the amplitude mode frequency omega(0) exhibits identical power-law scaling with the reduced temperature T/T(CDW) and the reduced Cu content x/x(c), i.e., omega(0) approximately (1-p)(0.15) for p=T/T(CDW) or x/x(c), suggesting that mode softening is independent of the control parameter used to approach the CDW transition. We provide evidence that x-dependent mode softening in Cu(x)TiSe(2) is associated with the reduction of the electron-phonon coupling constant, and that x-dependent "quantum" (T approximately 0) mode softening suggests the presence of a quantum critical point within the superconductor phase of Cu(x)TiSe(2).

Dynamical layer decoupling in a stripe-ordered high-T(c) superconductor.

In the stripe-ordered state of a strongly correlated two-dimensional electronic system, under a set of special circumstances, the superconducting condensate, like the magnetic order, can occur at a nonzero wave vector corresponding to a spatial period double that of the charge order. In this case, the Josephson coupling between near neighbor planes, especially in a crystal with the special structure of La(2-x)Ba(x)CuO(4), vanishes identically. We propose that this is the underlying cause of the dynamical decoupling of the layers recently observed in transport measurements at x = 1/8.

Hysteresis and noise from electronic nematicity in high-temperature superconductors.

An electron nematic is a translationally invariant state which spontaneously breaks the discrete rotational symmetry of a host crystal. In a clean square lattice, the electron nematic has two preferred orientations, while dopant disorder favors one or the other orientations locally. In this way, the electron nematic in a host crystal maps to the random field Ising model. Since the electron nematic has anisotropic conductivity, we associate each Ising configuration with a resistor network and use what is known about the random field Ising model to predict new ways to test for local electronic nematic order (nematicity) using noise and hysteresis. In particular, we have uncovered a remarkably robust linear relation between the orientational order and the resistance anisotropy which holds over a wide range of circumstances.

Nodal quasiparticles in stripe ordered superconductors.

We study the properties of a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor which consists of an alternating array of two inequivalent chains. This model is a simple caricature of a striped high temperature superconductor, and is more generally a theoretically controllable system in which the superconducting state emerges from a non-Fermi-liquid normal state. Even in this limit, " d-wave-like" order parameter symmetry is natural, but the superconducting state can either have a complete gap in the quasiparticle spectrum, or gapless "nodal" quasiparticles. We also find circumstances in which antiferromagnetic order (typically incommensurate) coexists with superconductivity.

Antiferromagnetic spin ladders effectively coupled by one-dimensional electron liquids.

We study a model of the stripe state in strongly correlated systems consisting of an array of antiferromagnetic spin ladders, each with n(leg) legs, coupled to each other through the spin-exchange interaction to charged stripes in between each pair of ladders. The charged stripes are assumed to be Luttinger liquids in a spin-gap regime. An effective interaction for a pair of neighboring ladders is calculated by integrating out the gapped spin degrees of freedom in the charged stripes. The low energy effective theory of each ladder is a nonlinear sigma model with additional cross couplings of neighboring ladders, which favor either in-phase or antiphase short-range spin orderings depending on the physical parameters of the charged stripe.

Nematic phase of the two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field

The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in moderate magnetic fields in ultraclean AlAs-GaAs heterojunctions exhibits transport anomalies suggestive of a compressible anisotropic metallic state. Using scaling arguments and Monte Carlo simulations, we develop an order parameter theory of an electron nematic phase. The observed temperature dependence of the resistivity anisotropy behaves like the orientational order parameter if the transition to the nematic state occurs at a finite temperature T(c) approximately 65 mK, and is slightly rounded by a small background microscopic anisotropy. We propose a light scattering experiment to measure the critical susceptibility.

Quantum theory of the smectic metal state in stripe phases

We present a theory of the electron smectic fixed point of the stripe phases of doped layered Mott insulators. We show that in the presence of a spin gap three phases generally arise: (a) a smectic superconductor, (b) an insulating stripe crystal, and (c) a smectic metal. The latter phase is a stable two-dimensional anisotropic non-Fermi liquid. In the absence of a spin gap there is also a more conventional Fermi-liquid-like phase. The smectic superconductor and smectic metal phases (or glassy versions thereof) may have already been seen in Nd-doped La2-xSrxCuO4.