NEWS & VIEWS RESEaRch

h ig h-T emP eraTUr e SUPe r C On D UC Ti ViT Y removed from the system, and are expected to
have a period of four lattice unit cells. The spin

How the cuprates part of the stripe orders antiferromagnetically

and looks like a narrow ribbon of Mott insu-
lator, whereas the part with more charge can

hid their stripes

conduct along its length and is often described
as a river, even though it is only a unit cell or so
wide (Fig. 2, overleaf). Although static stripes
seem to compete with superconductivity, it has
Extensive mapping of local electronic structure in copper oxide superconductors been proposed2 that fluctuating stripes might
reveals fluctuating stripe-like electron patterns that appear as a actually give rise to superconductivity.
high-temperature precursor to superconductivity. See Letter p.677 Of course, if fluctuating stripes are not
present, they cannot be the mechanism of
superconductivity. Static stripe-like order
k aT h r Y n a . m O L e r those of its neighbours. This well-understood has clearly been seen in some cuprate com-

C
opper oxide compounds, known as
the cuprates, may be most famous for
their high-temperature superconduct-
ing state. But aficionados are fascinated by a
phenomenon called the pseudogap, which
appears at yet higher temperatures. The
pseudogap’s basic nature, as well as its relation-
ship to superconductivity and to a menagerie
of other possible related states of matter, is
poorly understood. On page 677 of this issue,
Parker et al.1 report the observation in one
family of cuprate superconductors of a fluctu-
ating stripe-like electron arrangement that is
ubiquitous throughout the pseudogap region
of the materials’ phase diagram and seems to
engulf the superconducting region.
Their discovery relied not only on extensive
and precise collection of data with an apparatus
known as a scanning tunnelling microscope,
but also on detailed modelling, which allowed
the fluctuating stripes (Fig. 1) to be separated
from other stripy features that are formed by a
phenomenon called quasiparticle interference.
This finding gives a substantial boost to previ-
ous theoretical work hypothesizing that super-
conductivity arises from fluctuating stripes of
electronic order.
state is known as a half-filled Mott insulator.
Changing the material’s stoichiometry to either
add electrons to the planes (electron doping)
or remove electrons from the planes (hole
doping) leads to dramatic effects. In all the
hole-doped materials, increased doping levels
lead to the disappearance of the antiferromag-
netic order and eventually to superconductiv-
ity, with the pseudogap region covering a wide
range of doping.
To understand what Parker et al.1 have
achieved, we must consider what happens to
the Mott insulator as it is doped with holes.
Several theoretical models have shown that
the insulator’s electrons tend to form one-
dimensional ‘stripes’ of spin and charge order.
In general terms, this tendency comes from the
competition between the kinetic energy of the
electrons, which is lowered if they are free to
move; the energy of interactions between their
spins, which is lowered if neighbouring spins
are anti-aligned as in an antiferromagnet; and
their electrostatic Coulomb repulsion, which
pushes them away from each other. Such stripes
are likely to occur most strongly at 1/8 dop-
ing, in which every eighth electron has been
pounds3–5 by means of neutron scattering and
X-ray scattering, and other materials have
shown some indications of static or fluctuat-
ing stripe order. But the lack of a clear signa-
ture of fluctuating stripe order throughout
most compounds and dopings where super-
conductivity is seen has been one reason to
doubt that fluctuating stripe order may cause
superconductivity.
In scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM),
a sharp metal tip is scanned across the sam-
ple a tiny and precise distance above the sur-
face. Electrons quantum-mechanically tunnel
across the gap between the sample and the tip,
and a map of the electron current reveals the
underlying electronic structure with atomic
resolution. By varying the voltage between the
tip and the sample, it is even possible to make
separate images of the electronic order at dif-
ferent energies. It therefore seems the perfect
tool to address the question: how common are
stripes?
For many years, however, STM did not weigh
in on this question, perhaps because of diffi-
culties in preparing suitable surfaces and the
presence of disorder. But over the past decade,

REi/WiKiPEDiA
Ordinary superconductivity can be achieved
by cooling a simple metal, such as lead or tin,
to a few degrees above absolute zero. Cuprate
superconductivity is much more complicated,
and caught the world by surprise by appearing
at well over a hundred degrees kelvin above
absolute zero. The cuprates’ defining structural
feature is copper oxide planes. Each cuprate
family has a different set of atoms between the
layers and is defined by a particular formula
such as Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 + x, affectionately known
as BSCCO (pronounced ‘bisco’) and the subject
of Parker and colleagues’ investigation1.
In the parent compound of a cuprate family,
each copper site has a single unpaired electron
and the copper oxide planes are insulating. In
addition to having a charge, all electrons have
a spin and therefore a tiny magnetic moment,
which is widely believed to be pivotal to
understanding high-temperature supercon- Figure 1 | Of zebras and cuprates. Just as a zebra’s stripes disappear behind the stripes of the
ductivity. The parent compounds all have African bush, until now the fluctuating electronic stripes reported by Parker et al.1 in a family of
antiferromagnetic order, meaning that the cuprate superconductors have been difficult to distinguish from a superficially similar feature called
spin orientation of each electron is opposite to quasiparticle interference.

2 D E C E m b E R 2 0 1 0 | VO L 4 6 8 | NAT U R E | 6 4 3
© 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
 RESEaRch NEWS & VIEWS
Copper Oxygen
Four unit
cells
River of
mobile charge
Ribbon of
antiferromagnetic
Mott-like order
Figure 2 | Stripe-like electronic order in the
cuprates. In this form of electronic order, the
material’s copper oxide planes have ribbons of
antiferromagnetic Mott-like order — the spin
of each electron (arrowed) is in the opposite
direction to those of its neighbours — separated by
narrow rivers of mobile charge (purple spheres).
The periodicity of the arrangement is four lattice
unit cells. Parker and colleagues’ results1 support
the hypothesis that fluctuating stripes (more
disordered than those shown here) promote
superconductivity.
advances in STM technology have enabled the
discovery6 of chequerboard patterns in a mag-
netic field similar to what would be expected
for stripes, and a stripe-like pattern7 in zero
field. However, the main features of these pat-
terns were argued8,9 to be consistent with a
completely different explanation: quasiparti-
cle interference, in which particle-like entities
scatter from defects in the material, creating
standing waves. Since then, a debate has raged
as to whether the features observed in the STM
data are fully explainable as quasiparticle inter-
ference, or whether stripe-like order must also
be present10,11. Quantitative tests have been
proposed12 to distinguish between the two
classes of effect, and more experiments have
been carried out.
Parker et al.1 analysed STM maps at many
values of doping and temperature. In addition
to the quasiparticle-interference patterns, the
authors clearly demonstrated, using tests pro-
posed earlier12, the existence of a fluctuating
stripe order — strongest at 1/8 doping and
with a periodicity of four unit cells — at tem-
perature and doping values that are associated
with the pseudogap regime. This observation
is consistent with the picture of fluctuating
microscopic phase separation into ribbons of
Mott insulator separated by rivers of charge.
They find that the fluctuating stripe order
weakens at dopings lower than 1/8, whereas
the pseudogap is known to remain strong into
6 4 4 | NAT U R E | VO L 4 6 8 | 2 D E C E m b E R 2 0 1 0
the antiferromagnetic phase. This indicates
that the pseudogap is necessary for the stripe
formation but that the pseudogap and stripe
formation are not the same phenomena.
Much more work is needed before the mech-
anism of superconductivity will be solved or the
cuprates have a full microscopic theory, if they
ever do. Other points of view and related top-
ics, such as the role of a quantum critical point
and the question of whether the pseudogap is a
well-defined phase, continue to both incite and
inspire. Nevertheless, Parker and colleagues’
new data and analysis1, which show the exist-
ence of fluctuating stripe order throughout the
pseudogap region of BSCCO, make a convinc-
ing case that fluctuating stripes are much more
common than previously thought. Although
they detect only the charge order and not the
spin, and other measurements are needed to
create a complete picture, these results increase
the plausibility of the hypothesis that fluctuating
stripes indeed aid the superconductivity, and
will give pause to those who have considered
stripes a mere distraction. ■
STe m C eL L S
The blood balance
Blood cells are generated from haematopoietic stem cells on demand. The protein
Lkb1, which lies at the crossroad of energy metabolism and cell growth, seems to
regulate these stem cells’ dynamics. See articles p.653, p.659 & letter p.701
eLLen m. DUranD & LeOnarD i. ZOn
T
he haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)
give rise to all mature blood cells
through the process of haematopoiesis.
This rare cell population also maintains the
balance of blood cells in response to stress,
by fluctuating between quiescent and actively
cycling states depending on physiological con-
ditions. Transplantation of HSCs is an effec-
tive treatment for cancers, such as lymphoma
and leukaemia, as well as for autoimmune
diseases and other blood-related conditions1.
But despite much information about the func-
tion and clinical relevance of HSCs, little is
known about the energetics and metabolic
control of HSC dynamics. Three papers2–4 in
this issue describe a role for the protein Lkb1
in the metabolic regulation of HSCs.
Best known for its functions as a tumour
suppressor, Lkb1 is a kinase enzyme that
regulates the activity of AMP-activated pro-
tein kinase (AMPK) — a master regulator
of energetics — and several other AMPK-
related enzymes through phosphorylation.
When energy and nutrient levels are low,
Lkb1 activates AMPK, which in turn causes
repression of mTORC (a protein com-
plex that mediates protein synthesis) and
© 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
Kathryn A. Moler is in the Departments
of Applied Physics and of Physics, and the
Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy
Science, Stanford University, Stanford,
California 94305, USA.
e-mail: kmoler@stanford.edu
1. Parker, C. V. et al. Nature 468, 677–680 (2010).
2. Emery, V. J., Kivelson, S. A. & Zachar, O. Phys. Rev. B
56, 6120–6147 (1997).
3. Tranquada, J. M., Sternlieb, B. J., Axe, J. D.,
Nakamura, Y. & Uchida, S. Nature 375, 561–563
(1995).
4. Fujita, M., Goka, H., Yamada, K. & Matsuda, M. Phys.
Rev. Lett. 88, 167008 (2002).
5. Abbamonte, P. et al. Nature Phys. 1, 155–158
(2005).
6. Hoffman, J. E. et al. Science 295, 466–469 (2002).
7. Howald, C., Eisaki, H., Kaneko, N., Greven, M. &
Kapitulnik, A. Phys. Rev. B 67, 014533 (2003).
8. Hoffman, J. E. et al. Science 297, 1148–1151
(2002).
9. McElroy, K. et al. Nature 422, 592–596 (2003).
10. Fang, A., Howald, C., Kaneko, N., Greven, M. &
Kapitulnik, A. Phys. Rev. B 70, 214514 (2004).
11. Vershinin, M. et al. Science 303, 1995–1998
(2004).
12. Kivelson, S. A. et al. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 1201–1241
(2003).
a decline in cell proliferation5 (Fig. 1).
Nakada et al.2 (page 653) set out to deter-
mine whether Lkb1 regulates HSC dynamics
and function. They used genetically engineered
mice (Mx1-Cre; LKB1 fl/fl), which can be
manipulated using a polynucleotide, poly-
inosine–polycytosine (pIpC), to delete the Lkb1
gene whenever desired. The authors could thus
study the effect of Lkb1 on haematopoiesis, and
on the cell-cycle dynamics of not only HSCs,
but also the multipotent blood-cell progenitors
that arise from HSCs, and whole-bone-marrow
(WBM) cells, which include a collection of cells
of the haematopoietic system — ranging from
HSCs to completely differentiated cells.
Deletion of Lkb1 resulted in an initial expan-
sion of HSCs and multipotent progenitor cells.
With time, however, a depletion of these cell
populations and eventually a depletion of all
blood cell types (pancytopenia) occurred.
Lkb1 deficiency also led to increased turnover
of HSCs and multipotent progenitor cells, but
not of WBM cells. This hints that Lkb1 has a
role in regulating the cell-cycle dynamics of
HSCs and multipotent progenitor cells but not
of fully differentiated cells.
Transplantation assays are the gold standard
for testing the function of HSCs, as only HSCs
can completely restore the haematopoietic