Short Range Smectic and Long Range Nematic Order in the Pseudogap Phase   of Cuprates
  We present a model for the combined nematic and `smectic' or stripe-like orders seen in recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in cuprates. We model the stripe order as an electronic charge density wave with associated Peierls distortion -- a `Pomeranchuk wave'. Disorder restricts this primary order to nanoscale domains, while secondary coupling to strain generates nematic order with considerably longer range. 
R. S. Markiewicz, J. Lorenzana, G. Seibold, and A. Bansil
cond-mat.supr-con