Bond-ordered, bond-centered stripes in cuprates

Using a combination of the bond formalism and the string picture we analyze the stability of bond-ordered, bond-centered stripe system formed in the doped two dimensional (2D) antiferromagnet (AF). Our interest in such structures is motivated by results of recent neutron scattering experiments. We concentrate especially on a stripe, in which bond order takes the shape of a two-layer brick wall, forming a domain wall (DW) between AF domains with the changing by π across each DW direction of the sublattice magnetization. By analyzing the energy of such a structure and comparing with energies of stripes with other patterns of the underlying magnetic background we draw the conclusion that at the doping level 1/8 the most stable is the system of DWs which takes the form of two-leg ladders with bond-ordered nearest parallel legs. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)