Materials of a Different Stripe

The stripe phases in the copper oxide superconductors are rather fleeting structures. But stripes are solid features of related materials—nickel and manganese oxides—whose insulating phases feature a static ordering of charges. These other oxides are cousins of the layered lanthanum copper oxides, $La2CuO4,$ all having the basic perovskite structure. They are generated essentially by replacing the copper atoms with other transition metals. Despite the similar structures, the behaviors of these materials are very different.