Mémoire (M.A.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1999. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-106).

The fuzzball model of a black hole is an attempt to resolve the many paradoxes and puzzles of black hole physics that have revealed themselves over the last century. These badly behaved solutions of general relativity have given physicists one of the few laboratories to test candidate quantum theories of gravity. Though little is known about exactly what lies beyond the event horizon, and what the ultimate fate of matter that falls in to a black hole is, we know a few intriguing and elegant semi-classical results that have kept physicists occupied. Among these are the known black hole entropy and the Hawking radiation process.

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abstract: The research of this dissertation has involved the nanoscale quantitative characterization of patterned magnetic nanostructures and devices using off-axis electron holography and Lorentz microscopy. The investigation focused on different materials of interest, including monolayer Co nanorings, multilayer Co/Cu/Py (Permalloy, Ni81Fe19) spin-valve nanorings, and notched Py nanowires, which were fabricated via a standard electron-beam lithography (EBL) and lift-off process. Magnetization configurations and reversal processes of Co nanorings, with and without slots, were observed. Vortex-controlled switching behavior with stepped hysteresis loops was identified, with clearly defined onion states, vortex states, flux-closure (FC) states, and Omega states. Two distinct switching mechanisms for the slotted nanorings, depending on applied field directions relative to the slot orientations, were attributed to the vortex chirality and shape anisotropy. Micromagnetic simulations were in good agreement with electron holography observations of the Co nanorings, also confirming the switching field of 700-800 Oe. Co/Cu/Py spin-valve slotted nanorings exhibited different remanent states and switching behavior as a function of the different directions of the applied field relative to the slots. At remanent state, the magnetizations of Co and Py layers were preferentially aligned in antiparallel coupled configuration, with predominant configurations in FC or onion states. Two-step and three-step hysteresis loops were quantitatively determined for nanorings with slots perpendicular, or parallel to the applied field direction, respectively, due to the intrinsic coercivity difference and interlayer magnetic coupling between Co and Py layers. The field to reverse both layers was on the order of ~800 Oe. Domain-wall (DW) motion within Py nanowires (NWs) driven by an in situ magnetic field was visualized and quantified. Different aspects of DW behavior, including nucleation, injection, pinning, depinning, relaxation, and annihilation, occurred depending on applied field strength. A unique asymmetrical DW pinning behavior was recognized, depending on DW chirality relative to the sense of rotation around the notch. The transverse DWs relaxed into vortex DWs, followed by annihilation in a reversed field, which was in agreement with micromagnetic simulations. Overall, the success of these studies demonstrated the capability of off-axis electron holography to provide valuable insights for understanding magnetic behavior on the nanoscale. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering 2010

abstract: The research of this dissertation involved quantitative characterization of electrostatic potential and charge distribution of semiconductor nanostructures using off-axis electron holography, as well as other electron microscopy techniques. The investigated nanostructures included Ge quantum dots, Ge/Si core/shell nanowires, and polytype heterostructures in ZnSe nanobelts. Hole densities were calculated for the first two systems, and the spontaneous polarization for wurtzite ZnSe was determined. Epitaxial Ge quantum dots (QDs) embedded in boron-doped silicon were studied. Reconstructed phase images showed extra phase shifts near the base of the QDs, which was attributed to hole accumulation in these regions. The resulting charge density was (0.03±0.003) holes/nm3, which corresponded to about 30 holes localized to a pyramidal, 25-nm-wide Ge QD. This value was in reasonable agreement with the average number of holes confined to each Ge dot determined using a capacitance-voltage measurement. Hole accumulation in Ge/Si core/shell nanowires was observed and quantified using off-axis electron holography and other electron microscopy techniques. High-angle annular-dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy images and electron holograms were obtained from specific nanowires. The intensities of the former were utilized to calculate the projected thicknesses for both the Ge core and the Si shell. The excess phase shifts measured by electron holography across the nanowires indicated the presence of holes inside the Ge cores. The hole density in the core regions was calculated to be (0.4±0.2) /nm3 based on a simplified coaxial cylindrical model. Homogeneous zincblende/wurtzite heterostructure junctions in ZnSe nanobelts were studied. The observed electrostatic fields and charge accumulation were attributed to spontaneous polarization present in the wurtzite regions since the contributions from piezoelectric polarization were shown to be insignificant based on geometric phase analysis. The spontaneous polarization for the wurtzite ZnSe was calculated to be psp = -(0.0029±0.00013) C/m2, whereas a first principles' calculation gave psp = -0.0063 C/m2. The atomic arrangements and polarity continuity at the zincblende/wurtzite interface were determined through aberration-corrected high-angle annular-dark-field imaging, which revealed no polarity reversal across the interface. Overall, the successful outcomes of these studies confirmed the capability of off-axis electron holography to provide quantitative electrostatic information for nanostructured materials. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2011

The aim of the thesis is to study the AdS/CFT correspondence and the AdS2/SYK connection as a very special example of the duality. While the first part of the thesis contains a review of AdS/CFT correspondence in arbitrary dimensions, the later parts focus on an interesting and speculative connection between the gravitational physics in two dimensional nearly AdS2 spacetime and one dimensional SYK model. More specifically, the connection is realized in terms of certain features of the SYK model in strong coupling limit, which resembles those of nearly AdS2 Jackiw-Teitelboim theory.

Les contraintes font maintenant partie des “ boosters ” de la microélectronique au même titre que le SOI (silicium sur isolant) ou le couple grille métallique / diélectrique haute permittivité. Appliquer une contrainte au niveau du canal des transistors MOSFETs (transistors à effet de champ à structure métal-oxyde-semiconducteur) permet d'augmenter de façon significative la mobilité des porteurs de charge. Il y a par conséquent un besoin de caractériser les déformations induites par ces contraintes à l'échelle nanométrique. L'holographie électronique en champ sombre est une technique de MET (Microscopie Électronique en Transmission) inventée en 2008 qui permet d'effectuer des cartographies quantitatives de déformation avec une résolution spatiale nanométrique et un champ de vue micrométrique. Dans cette thèse, la technique a été développée sur le microscope Titan du CEA. Différentes expériences ont été réalisées afin d'optimiser la préparation d'échantillon, les conditions d'illumination, d'acquisition et de reconstruction des hologrammes. La sensibilité et la justesse de mesure de la technique ont été évaluées en caractérisant des couches minces épitaxiées de Si_{1-x}Ge_{x}/Si et en effectuant des comparaisons avec des simulations mécaniques par éléments finis. Par la suite, la technique a été appliquée à la caractérisation de réseaux recuits de SiGe(C)/Si utilisés dans la conception de nouveaux transistors multi-canaux ou multi-fils. L'influence des phénomènes de relaxation, tels que l'interdiffusion du Ge et la formation des clusters de β-SiC a été étudiée. Enfin, l'holographie en champ sombre a été appliquée sur des transistors pMOS placés en déformation uniaxiale par des films stresseurs de SiN et des sources/drains de SiGe. Les mesures ont notamment permis de vérifier l'additivité des deux procédés de déformation. / Strain engineering is now considered as one of the most important boosters of microelectronics among other technologies such as SOI (Silicon On Insulator) and high-κ metal gates. By applying a stress in the channel of MOSFET (Metal Oxyde Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) devices, the charge carriers mobility can be significantly increased. Consequently, there is now a need for a strain metrology at the nanometer scale. Dark-field electron holography is a TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) technique invented in 2008 that allows to map strain with micrometer field-of-view and nanometer spatial resolution. In this thesis, the technique was developed on the CEA Titan microscope. First, different developements were carried out concerning the sample preparation, the illumination/acquisition conditions and the reconstruction of the holograms. The sensitivity and the accuracy of the technique were evaluated through the characterization of Si_{1-x}Ge_{x} layers epitaxied on Si and by comparing the results with mechanical finite element simulations. Then, the technique was applied to the study of annealed SiGe(C)/Si superlattices that are used in the construction of new 3D architectures such as multichannel or multiwires transistors. The influence of the different relaxation mechanisms on the strain especially Ge interdiffusion and β-SiC clusters formation was investigated. Finally, dark-field electron holography was applied to the characterization of uniaxially strained pMOS transistors by SiN liners and recessed SiGe sources and drains. The measurements allowed to confirm the strain additivity of the two processes.

In this thesis we study the time evolution of Rényi and entanglement entropies of thermal states in Conformal Field Theory (CFT). These quantities are usually hard to compute but Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) and Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi (HRT) proposals allow us to find the same quantities using calculations in general relativity. We will introduce main concepts of holography, quantum information and conformal field theory that will be used to derive the results of this thesis. In the first part of the thesis, we explicitly compute entanglement entropy of the rotating BTZ black hole by directly applying HRT proposal and finding lengths of spacelike geodesics. Rényi entropy of thermal state perturbed by a local quantum quench is computed by mapping correlators on two glued cylinders to the plane for field theory containing a single free boson and for 2d CFTs in the large c limit. We consider Thermofield Double State (TFD) which is an entangled state in direct product of two 2D CFTs. It is conjectured to be holographically equivalent to the eternal BTZ black hole. TFD state is perturbed by a local quench in one CFT and mutual information between two intervals in two CFTs is computed. We find when mutual information vanishes and interpret this as scrambling time, i.e. time scale required for the system to thermalize. This field theory result is modelled with a massive free falling particle in the BTZ black hole. We have computed the back-reaction of the particle on the metric of BTZ and used RT proposal to find holographic entanglement entropy. Finally, we generalize this calculation to the case of rotating BTZ with inner and outer horizons. It is dual to the CFT with different temperatures for left and right moving modes. We calculate mutual information and scrambling time and find exact agreement between results in the gravity and those in the CFT.

An ongoing experiment is described to demonstrate the principle of multi-pulse laser wakefield acceleration, in which a plasma wakefield is resonantly excited by a train of laser pulses, spaced by the plasma wavelength. Particle-in-cell simulations of the initial single-pulse experimental setup are presented, in order to calculate the expected signal. Preliminary results are presented and future plans, based on work done so far, are discussed. Part of this work involves the implementation of a single-shot wakefield diagnostic - frequency-domain holography, which records the phase shift caused by passage of a probe pulse through the plasma. This implementation is described in detail, along with the associated analysis procedure. Practical difficulties encountered while implementing the diagnostic are discussed, along with possible ways of mitigating them in the future. A method is presented by which the noise level in the resulting phase measurements can be predicted, much more accurately than any previously published method for this technique. Methods of generating pulse trains for use in future multi-pulse laser wakefield acceleration experiments are presented. These include techniques proposed for use in this demonstration experiment, as well as one intended for use in a dedicated high-efficiency, high repetition-rate, multi-pulse driver laser. This last method, based on programmable pulse shaping using a spatial light modulator, requires a suitable mask to be computed based on the parameters of the required pulse train; an algorithm is described to perform this computation.