We propose that the spin glass phase of cuprates is due to the proliferation of topological defects of a spiral distortion of the antiferromagnet order. Our theory explains straightforwardly the simultaneous existence of short range incommensurate magnetic correlations and complete a-b symmetry breaking in this phase. We show via a renormalization group calculation that the collinear O(3)/O(2) symmetry is unstable towards the formation of local non-collinear correlations. A critical disorder strength is identified beyond which topological defects proliferate already at zero temperature.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0005486,
title = {Topological Defects and the Spin Glass Phase of Cuprates},
author = {N. Hasselmann and A. H. Castro Neto and C. Morais Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0005486},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 2 figures. Final version with some changes and one replaced figure