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 Pr-0.55(Ca0.8Sr0.2)(0.45)MnO3 (PCSMO). On cooling from room temperature, PCSMO first enters into a CO-OO state below T-CO and then becomes a CE-type long-range ordered antiferromagnet below T-N. At temperatures above T-N but below T-CO (T-N < T < T-CO), 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.