Stripe correlations of spins and holes in cuprates and nickelates

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Abstract
Recent neutron diffraction studies of coupled spatial modulations of the spin and charge densities within the CuO2 planes of layered cuprates (and NiO2 planes of nickelate analogs) are reviewed. Analysis of superlattice peaks that appear at low temperatures (≤ 100 K) in hole-doped La2NiO4 indicates that the holes tend to localize in periodically-ordered antiphase domain walls separating antiferromagnetic stripes of Ni spins. Evidence for a similar ordering has now been found in a copper-oxide compound. La1.6-xNd0.4SrxCuO4 with ≈ 1/8, in which the superconductivity is anomalously suppressed. It is proposed that dynamical correlations of the same nature occur in superconducting cuprates. The relevance to the low-energy electrodynamics is discussed.