Striped phase in the presence of disorder and lattice potentials

We study the influence of disorder and lattice effects on the striped phase and the incommensurate spin fluctuations of the cuprates and nickelates. S tarting from a phenomenological model of a discrete quantum string on a lat tice with disorder, we derive the renormalization group equations in leadin g order in the lattice and disorder strength. Three regimes are identified: the quantum membrane phase, the flat phase pinned by the lattice, and the disorder pinned phase. We compare our results with measurements on nickelat es and cuprates and find good agreement.