Abstract
Materials consisting of a stack of “two-dimensional” layers that exhibit 2D power-law order in the absence of coupling between layers include systems as diverse as layered magnets, DNA-lipid complexes, and coupled Luttinger liquids. It is common belief that these systems exhibit ”three-dimensional” order whenever there is a nonvanishing interlayer coupling. However, with appropriately chosen interlayer gradient couplings between layers, they can exhibit unusual equilibrium “Sliding Phases” characterized by 2D-like power-law correlations. After reviewing the various types of sliding phases that can occur, this paper will discuss in detail the properties of the simplest sliding phases, the sliding xy phases in three-dimensional stacks of planar xy models.
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