Stripe order from the perspective of the Hubbard model

• Published in: npj quantum materials Vol. 3; no. 1
• Main Authors: Huang, Edwin W., Mendl, Christian B., Jiang, Hong-Chen, Moritz, Brian, Devereaux, Thomas P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 20.04.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/119/997; 639/766/119/995; Broken symmetry; Computer simulation; Condensed Matter Physics; Cuprates; Density; Doping; Electron spin; Electrons; Emergence; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Mathematical models; Parameters; Phase diagrams; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Physics; Structural Materials; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films
• ISSN: 2397-4648; 2397-4648
• DOI: 10.1038/s41535-018-0097-0

A microscopic understanding of the strongly correlated physics of the cuprates must account for the translational and rotational symmetry breaking that is present across all cuprate families, commonly in the form of stripes. Here we investigate emergence of stripes in the Hubbard model, a minimal model believed to be relevant to the cuprate superconductors, using determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) simulations at finite temperatures and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) ground state calculations. By varying temperature, doping, and model parameters, we characterize the extent of stripes throughout the phase diagram of the Hubbard model. Our results show that including the often neglected next-nearest-neighbor hopping leads to the absence of spin incommensurability upon electron-doping and nearly half-filled stripes upon hole-doping. The similarities of these findings to experimental results on both electron and hole-doped cuprate families support a unified description across a large portion of the cuprate phase diagram. Strongly correlated electrons: spin stripes emerge in the Hubbard model The phase diagram of the Hubbard model is studied numerically by varying parameters and suggests that spin stripe order can be observable at accessible temperatures. A team led by Thomas P. Devereaux from Stanford University and colleagues from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and University of North Dakota investigate emergence of spin stripe orders in the Hubbard model by tuning various parameters in the determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations and the density matrix renormalization group calculations. They show that including the next-nearest-neighbor hopping term, which was often neglected in previous studies, in the Hubbard model leads to nearly half-filled spin stripes upon hole-doping, while no stripes upon electron-doping. The consistence of these findings with experimental results on both electron and hole-doped cuprate superconductors supports a unified description across a large portion of the cuprate phase diagram.