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

Abstract

We revisit the ground state of the spin-fermion model within a semiclassical approximation. We demonstrate that antiphase spin spirals or $\ensuremath{\pi}$ spirals, whose chirality alternates between consecutive rows (or columns) of local moments, have, for sufficiently high carrier concentration, lower energy than the traditional Shraiman-Siggia spirals [Phys. Rev. B. 46, 8305 (1992)]. Furthermore, $\ensuremath{\pi}$ spirals give rise to modulated hopping, anisotropic one-dimensional transport, and charge density wave formation. Finally, we discuss the relevance of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ spirals to the physics of charge stripe formation in cuprates, such as ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}\mathrm{Cu}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$.