Optical conductivity of spin/lattice polarons in underdoped copper oxides

Optical and spectral properties of carriers in the presence of strong antiferromagnetic correlations and interacting with optical phonon modes are analyzed using Dynamical Mean Field Theory. We interpret the mid-infrared band in ?(?) in term of mixed spin lattice polaronic excitations which arise from the stabilization of the lattice polaron due to the antiferromagnetic correlations. We compare our results with experimental data in NCCO showing that the doping and temperature dependences of the optical conductivity in this compound is naturally reproduced within a spin/lattice polaronic model.