Two observable features of the staggered-flux phase at nonzero doping

Abstract

We investigate whether the staggered-flux phase (SFP) is realized in slightly doped phases of the Cu-O high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ superconductors. Using a mean-field solution of the t-J model, we calculate the size of circulating currents in the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_2$ planes. For realistic parameters we find nonzero currents when the doping δ0.12 is consistent with the limits set by the muon experiments on superconducting samples. We show that similar results are obtained using the Gutzwiller-projected SFP.