The existence of a stripe-liquid phase in a layered nickelate,
La(1.725)Sr(0.275)NiO(4), is demonstrated through neutron scattering
measurements. We show that incommensurate magnetic fluctuations evolve
continuously through the charge-ordering temperature, although an abrupt
decrease in the effective damping energy is observed on cooling through the
transition. The energy and momentum dependence of the magnetic scattering are
parametrized with a damped-harmonic-oscillator model describing overdamped
spin-waves in the antiferromagnetic domains defined instantaneously by charge
stripes.Comment: 4 2-col pages, including 5 figures; Final version, to be published in
PR
