Hidden ferronematic order in underdoped cuprates

We study a model for low-doped cuprates where holes aggregate into oriented stripe segments which have a magnetic vortex and antivortex at the extremes. We argue that due to the interaction between segments a ferronematic state with macroscopic polarization is stabilized. This state can be characterized as a charge nematic which, due to the net polarization, breaks inversion symmetry and also exhibits an incommensurate spin modulation. Our calculation can reproduce the doping-dependent spin structure factor of lanthanum cuprates in excellent agreement with experiment and allows to rationalize experiments in which the incommensurability has an order-parameter-like temperature dependence. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.035138