  Stripe phases are observed experimentally in several copper-based high-Tc
superconductors near 1/8 hole doping. However, the specific characteristics may
vary depending on the degree of dopant disorder and the presence or absence of
a low- temperature tetragonal phase. On the basis of a Hartree-Fock decoupling
scheme for the t-J model we discuss the diverse behavior of stripe phases. In
particular the effect of inhomogeneities is investigated in two distinctly
different parameter regimes which are characterized by the strength of the
interaction. We observe that small concen- trations of impurities or vortices
pin the unidirectional density waves, and dopant disorder is capable to
stabilize a stripe phase in parameter regimes where homogeneous phases are
typically favored in clean systems. The momentum-space results exhibit
universal features for all coexisting density-wave solutions, nearly unchanged
even in strongly disordered systems. These coexisting solutions feature
generically a full energy gap and a particle-hole asymmetry in the density of
states.
