Fibrillar templates and soft phases in systems with short-range dipolar and long-range interactions.
We analyze the thermal fluctuations of particles that have a short-range dipolar attraction and a long-range repulsion. In an inhomogeneous particle density region, or "soft phase," filamentary patterns appear which are destroyed only at very high temperatures. The filaments act as a fluctuating template for correlated percolation in which low-energy excitations can move through the stable pattern by local rearrangements. At intermediate temperatures, dynamically averaged checkerboard states appear. We discuss possible implications for doped cuprate oxides and related materials.
Olson Reichhardt
C J
CJ
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Reichhardt
C
C
Bishop
A R
AR