  We discuss how Raman spectra are affected by nearly-critical spin and charge
collective modes, which are coupled to charge carriers near a stripe quantum
critical point. We show that specific fingerprints of nearly-critical
collective modes can indeed be observed in Raman spectra and that the
selectivity of Raman spectroscopy in momentum space may also be exploited to
distinguish the spin and charge contribution. We apply our results to discuss
the spectra of high-Tc superconducting cuprates finding that the collective
modes should have masses with substantial temperature dependence in agreement
with their nearly critical character. Moreover spin modes should be more
diffusive than charge modes indicating that in stripes the charge is nearly
ordered, while spin modes are strongly overdamped and fluctuate with high
frequency.
