Paper detail

Modeling of Superconducting Stripe Phases in High-Tc Cuprates

Even before the experimental discovery of spin- and charge-stripe order in La$_{2-x-y}$Nd$_y$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ and La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_4$ at x = 1/8, stripe formation was predicted from theoretical considerations. Nevertheless, a consistent description of the complex coexistence of stripe order with superconductivity has remained a challenge. Here we introduce a Hartree-Fock decoupling scheme which unifies previous approaches and allows for a detailed analysis of the competition between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in real and momentum space. We identify two distinct parameter regimes, where spin-stripe order coexists with either one- or two-dimensional superconductivity; experiments on different striped cuprates are either compatible with the former or the latter regime. We argue that the cuprates at x = 1/8 fall into an intermediate coupling regime with a crossover to long-range phase coherence between individual superconducting stripes.