Nematicity as a route to a magnetic-field–induced spin density wave order: Application to the high-temperature cuprates

¹  Department of Physics, University of Toronto - Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7 Canada
²  Physics Department, Technion - Haifa 32000, Israel

Received: 11 March 2009
Accepted: 21 May 2009

Abstract

The electronic nematic order characterized by broken rotational symmetry has been suggested to play an important role in the phase diagram of the high-temperature cuprates. We study the interplay between the electronic nematic order and a spin density wave order in the presence of a magnetic field. We show that a cooperation of the nematicity and the magnetic field induces a finite coupling between the spin density wave and spin-triplet staggered flux orders. As a consequence of such a coupling, the magnon gap decreases as the magnetic field increases, and it eventually condenses beyond a critical magnetic field leading to a field-induced spin density wave order. Both commensurate and incommensurate orders are studied, and the experimental implications of our findings are discussed.