Freezing of a Stripe Liquid
arXiv:cond-mat/0110191 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.126401
Abstract
The existence of a stripe-liquid phase in a layered nickelate, La(1.725)Sr(0.275)NiO(4), is demonstrated through neutron scattering measurements. We show that incommensurate magnetic fluctuations evolve continuously through the charge-ordering temperature, although an abrupt decrease in the effective damping energy is observed on cooling through the transition. The energy and momentum dependence of the magnetic scattering are parametrized with a damped-harmonic-oscillator model describing overdamped spin-waves in the antiferromagnetic domains defined instantaneously by charge stripes.
4 2-col pages, including 5 figures; Final version, to be published in PRL