Unidirectional charge correlations in hole-doped cuprates

We examine charge correlations and instabilities in the pseudogap phase of high-\(T_\textrm{c}\) cuprates modeled by d-density wave ordering. The latter has a gap symmetry similar to the one observed in the d-wave superconductor. We use t-J model to describe the charge correlations in the presence of electron–phonon interaction. Our finding suggests that the charge instability in the normal state dominates at an incommensurate wavevector along (1, 1) instead of (1, 0) for a realistic interaction parameter. The dominance at the diagonal wavevector is further enhanced if the coupling between electron and bond-buckling \(B_{1g}\) phonon is incorporated. On the other hand, a dominating charge-density correlation develops along (1, 0) at an incommensurate wavevector in the d-density wave ordered state in qualitative agreement with the experiments. The correlation is robustly enhanced along (1, 0) in the presence of \(B_{1g}\) phonon.