Nematic Fermi Fluids in Condensed Matter Physics

Abstract

Correlated electron fluids can exhibit a startling array of complex phases, among which one of the more surprising is the electron nematic, a translationally invariant metallic phase with a spontaneously generated spatial anisotropy. Classical nematics generally occur in liquids of rod-like molecules; given that electrons are point like, the initial theoretical motivation for contemplating electron nematics came from thinking of the electron fluid as a quantum melted electron crystal, rather than a strongly interacting descendent of a Fermi gas. Dramatic transport experiments in ultra-clean quantum Hall systems in 1999 and in Sr_3Ru_2O_7 in a strong magnetic field in 2007 established that such phases exist in nature. In this article, we briefly review the theoretical considerations governing nematic order, summarize the quantum Hall and Sr_3Ru_2O_7 experiments that unambiguously establish the existence of this phase, and survey some of the current evidence for such a phase in the cuprate and Fe-based high temperature superconductors.