Electronically smecticlike liquid-crystal phase in a nearly half-doped manganite

We use neutron scattering to study the spin and charge-orbital ordering (CO-OO) in the nearly half-doped perovskite manganite Pr0.55(Ca0.8Sr0.2)0.45MnO3 (PCSMO). On cooling from room temperature, PCSMO first enters into a CO-OO state below TCO and then becomes a CE-type long-range ordered antiferromagnet below TN. At temperatures above TN but below TCO (TN<T<TCO), the spins in PCSMO form highly anisotropic smectic liquid-crystal-like texture with ferromagnetic (FM) quasi-long-range ordered one-dimensional zigzag chains weakly coupled antiferromagnetically. Such a magnetic smecticlike phase results directly from the spin-orbit interaction and demonstrates the presence of textured "electronic soft" phases in doped Mott insulators.