Why are stripes in La${}_{1.88}$Sr${}_{0.12}$CuO${}_4$ rotated by $3^{\circ }$?

Abstract

The rotated stripes are a consequence of the orthorhombic crystal lattice and the isotropy of Coulomb repulsion between pairs of doped holes, residing at oxygen lattice sites. With stripe slanting, the doped-hole pairs come closer to equidistance than without. The slant ratio depends on the orthorhombicity $o$ as $s=\sqrt{o/2}$.

11 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables