Spin Polarons in Weakly Doped Antiferromagnets: Experimental Evidence Obtained for Cuprates

The mechanism of spin polaron formation in moderately doped cuprates is discussed. These objects represent holes embedded into heavy clouds formed by spin fluctuations. Wave functions of spin polarons are spatially confined due to the increase in the exchange energy which is induced by hole motion giving rise to the creation of spin fluctuations. These wave functions are eigenstates of an "unperturbed" Hamiltonian which is defined by processes responsible for the tendency toward confinement. The eigenstates transform according to different irreducible representations of the point group reflecting the symmetry of the problem. Thus, the spin polarons being local wave functions resemble orbital states. The spectrum of optical conductivity in the mid-infrared range is determined by transitions between s-wave and p-wave spin polarons. The hybridization between different spin polarons which is induced by some high order processes gives rise to the formation of energy bands. The pronounced transfer of the spectral weight between different bands is induced by the coupling between spin fluctuations created by the hopping hole and local quantum fluctuations in the empty antiferromagnetic background from which an electron has been rejected, for example during the photoemission process. The form of the energy dispersion for spin polarons gives rise to the formation of a small Fermi surface at the low hole-doping range. These three above mentioned phenomena were observed in cuprates which seems to confirm the spin polaron scenario. The discussion of related experiments is the additional objective of this paper.