Magnetotransport study of the charged stripes in high-T_c cuprates

Abstract

We present a study of the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistance (MR) in heavily-underdoped, antiferromagnetic YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6+x}, which reveals a variety of striking features. The in-plane MR demonstrates a "d-wave"-like anisotropy upon rotating the magnetic field H within the ab plane. With decreasing temperature below 20-25 K, the system acquires memory: exposing a crystal to the magnetic field results in a persistent in-plane resistivity anisotropy. The overall features can be explained by assuming that the CuO_2 planes contain a developed array of stripes accommodating the doped holes, and that the MR is associated with the field-induced topological ordering of the stripes.

4 pages, 5 figures, invited paper at M2S-HTSC-VI, to be published in Physics C (Proceedings of the International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity, High Temperature Superconductors VI (M2S-HTSC-VI), Houston, Feb 20-25, 2000)