Lightly doped La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4) as a Lifshitz helimagnet

Abstract

We study the static magnetic correlations in lightly doped La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4) within the framework of a dipolar frustration model for a canted antiferromagnet. We show that the stability of the canted Neel state for x<2% is due to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and XY anisotropies. For higher doping the ground state is unstable towards a helicoidal magnetic phase where the transverse components of the staggered magnetization rotate in a plane perpendicular to the orthorhombic b-axis. Our theory reconciles, for the first time, the incommensurate peaks observed in elastic neutron scattering with Raman and magnetic susceptibility experiments in La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4).

4 pages, 2 figures, published in Phys. Rev. Lett