Topological Structures in a Model Cuprate

Abstract

We address a minimal model to describe the charge degree of freedom in the CuO₂ planes with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to only a charge triplet of the three effective valence centers, nominally Cu^1+;2+;3+, and made use of the S = 1 pseudospin formalism. The 2D S = 1 pseudospin system is prone to a creation of different topological structures which form topologically protected inhomogeneous distributions of the eight local S = 1 pseudospin order parameters including charge density and superfluid order parameters. We focus on the so-called quadrupole skyrmion which is believed to be a candidate for a topological charge excitation in parent or underdoped cuprates. Puzzlingly, such an unconventional structure is characterized by a uniform distribution of the mean on-site charge that makes the quadrupole skyrmion texture to be invisible for X-rays. We suppose that the parent insulating antiferromagnetic cuprates may be unstable with regard to nucleation of topological defects in the unconventional form of the one- or multi-center skyrmion-like object with ring-shaped superfluid regions.