Microscopic origin of diagonal stripe phases in doped nickelates

Abstract

We investigate the electron density distribution and the stability of stripe phases in a realistic two-band model with hopping elements between ${e}_{g}$ orbitals at Ni sites on the square lattice, and compare these results with those obtained for the doubly degenerate Hubbard model with two equivalent orbitals and diagonal hopping. For both models we determine the stability regions of filled and half-filled stripe phases for increasing hole doping $x=2\ensuremath{-}n$ in the range of $x<0.4$, using the Hartree-Fock approximation for large clusters. In the parameter range relevant to the nickelates, we obtain the most stable diagonal stripe structures with filling of nearly one hole per atom, as observed experimentally. In contrast, for the doubly degenerate Hubbard model the most stable stripes are somewhat reminiscent of the cuprates, with half-filled orbitals at the domain wall sites. This difference elucidates the crucial role of the off-diagonal ${e}_{g}$ hopping terms for the stripe formation in ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}\mathrm{Ni}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$. The influence of the crystal field is discussed as well.