No description available.

The focus of this thesis lies on the thermoelectric transport properties of rare-earth compounds containing Ce, Eu, and Yb. These systems have been investigated either to study fundamental problems or to evaluate their potential for thermoelectric applications.

This dissertation reports on the synthesis, structural and thermal characterization and electrical and thermal transport properties of a variety of strongly correlated spinels. General structure property relationships for electrical and thermal transport are discussed. However, the relationship between thermopower and features of the crystal structure such as spin, crystal field, anti-site disorder, and structural distortions are explored in depth. The experimental findings are reported in the context of improving existing oxide thermoelectric materials, screening for new materials or using thermopower as a unique characterization tool to determine the cation distribution in spinels. The need for improved n-type oxide thermoelectric materials has led researchers to consider mixed valence \((+3/+4)\) manganese oxides. Contrary to previous findings we report herein that the \(LiMn_2O_4\) compound reaches the relatively large n-type thermopower of \(-73 \mu V/K\) which is three times larger than the value observed in other manganese oxides, \(-25 \mu V/K\). The cause of this increase in thermopower is shown to be the absence of a Jahn-Teller distortion on the \(Mn^{3+}\) ions in \(LiMn_2O_4\). By avoiding this structural distortion the orbital degeneracy is doubled and the Koshibae et al.’s modified Heikes formula predicts a thermopower of \(-79 \mu V/K\) in good agreement with the experiment. Altering the \(Mn^{3+/4+}\) ratio via aliovalent doping did not affect the thermopower and is a second evidence of universal charge transport first reported by Kobayashi et al. The role of anti-site disorder was further examined in \(Fe_xMn_{1-x}NiCrO_4\) x=0, ½, ¾, 1 spinels but the effect on thermopower was inconclusive due to the presence of impurity phases. Next, the thermopower as a function of temperature in \(Co_3O_4\) was investigated as a means whereby the Wu and Mason’s 30 year old model for using thermopower to calculate cation distribution in spinels could be revisited. We report evidence that Wu and Mason’s original model using the standard Heikes formula and considering octahedral sites alone leads to a stoichiometrically inconsistent result at high temperatures. Alternate models are evaluated considering Koshibae et al.’s modified Heikes formula and accounting for tetrahedral site contributions. Furthermore, the effect of a possible spin state transition is considered. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

The electrical and thermal conductance and the Seebeck coefficient are calculated for one-dimensional systems, and their behavior as a function of temperature and chemical potential is investigated. It is shown that the conductances are proportional to an average of the transmission probability around the Fermi level with the average taken for the thermal conductance being over a wider range. This has the effect of creating less well-defined plateaus for thermal-conductance quantization experiments. For weak non-linearities, the charge and entropy currents across a quantum point contact are expanded as a series in powers of the applied bias voltage and the temperature difference. After that, the expansions of the Seebeck voltage in temperature difference and the Peltier heat in current are obtained. Also, it is shown that the linear thermal conductance of a quantum point contact displays a half-plateau structure, almost flat regions appearing around half-integer multiples of the conductance quantum. This structure is investigated for the saddle-potential model.

The focus of this thesis lies on the thermoelectric transport properties of rare-earth compounds containing Ce, Eu, and Yb. These systems have been investigated either to study fundamental problems or to evaluate their potential for thermoelectric applications.

Cette thèse porte sous l'étude sous conditions extrêmes (basse température, fort champ magnétique et haute pression) des composés fortement corrélés du type fermions lourds. Trois composés ont été analysés UCoAl, UGe$_2$ et CeRh$_2$Si$_2$, en utilisant principalement de mesures thermoélectriques; une technique récente et très sensible dans le domaine des fermions lourds. À cette fin, de nouvelles dispositives de mesures de pouvoir thermoélectricité sous pression ont été développés au cours de cette thèse.Concernant le composé d'UCoAl, notre étude a permis d'analyser précisément la transition metamagnétique, induite par le champ magnétique, entre la phase paramagnétique (PM) et la phase ferromagnétique (FM) ainsi que, son évolution sous pression. Ainsi, nos mesures ont permis de compléter le diagramme de phase $(T,P,H)$ et notamment, de mettre en évidence la structure magnétique originale qui apparaît sous pression en forme de ```wings" pas des mesures thermoélectriques.Une fine analyse de la surface de Fermi de la phase FM$2$ d'UGe$_2$ a été réalisée grace à l'observation des oscillations quantiques du pouvoir thermoélectrique. Les résultats obtenues ont été comparés aux études conventionnelles des oscillations quantiques comme de ``de Haas-van Alphen" (dHvA) et de ``Suhbnikov-de Hass" (SdH) effets. Une très bonne accord entre les trois techniques a été constatée. % et montre les avantages d'utilisation des mesures du pouvoir thermoélectrique pour analyser les paramètres microscopiques des fermions lourds.% Les inconvénients de cette technique sont aussi présentés.Finalement, dans le système CeRh$_2$Si$_2$, la suppression du domaine antiferromagnétique (AF) sous champ magnétique $H_c sim 26$T et sous pression $Psim 1$GPa a été étudiée. Un très fort changement de la surface de Fermi à $H_c$ correspondant à la transition de l'ordre AF vers une phase paramagnétique polarisée (PPM), a été observé. Sous pression, des fluctuations magnétiques et une reconstruction de la surface de Fermi apparaissent autour de $P_c$. Ces fluctuations cachent la nature de la suppression de l'ordre AF vers un ordre paramagnétique (PM). L'étude du diagramme de phase $(T,H,P)$ révèle que les phases PM et PPM sont différentes, cependant des points en commun demeurent. / Thermopower is a technique whose importance is related to the possibility of directly measuring electronic properties of the systems, as it is sensitive to the derivative of the density of states. In this work, the low temperature regime of strongly correlated electron systems has been studied using this technique. For that, a new pressure-field thermopower device was developed, and used, to determine $(T,P,H)$ phase diagrams of the itinerant ferromagnets UCoAl and UGe$_2$, and of the weak antiferromagnet CeRh$_2$Si$_2$.For example, in the case of UCoAl, this same technique was used to analyze the metamagnetic transition from paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) phases and to study its evolution towards the quantum critical end point. The existence of exotic magnetic excitations in the ground state and around the critical end point were also evidenced.On the compound CeRh$_2$Si$_2$, the suppression of the antiferromagnetic (AF) order by magnetic fields and pressures was explored. A strong change of the Fermi surface at $H_c$, the field at which the suppression of the AF into the paramagnetic polarized (PPM) phase, was observed. We show that under pressure, the magnetic fluctuations around the critical pressure $P_c$ masked the Fermi surface reconstruction of the AF phase into the PM phase. The analysis of the $(T,P,H)$ phase diagram revealed that the non-ordered phases of this compound (PM and PPM) are different, therefore pressure and field behave as different suppressor mechanisms.In the UGe$_2$ compound, the analysis of its Fermi surface by thermopower quantum oscillations was performed as a last example of the utility and of the importance of this technique. To the best of the author knowledge, this is the first time that this technique was used in heavy fermion systems. A comparison to traditional probes such as de Haas-van Alphen and Shubnikov–de Haas effects was done. We observed a good agreement between them and we explain the advantages and the disadvantages of thermopower quantum oscillations technique over the traditional probes.

No description available.

No description available.

Nesta tese apresentamos os estudos de magnetotransporte em poços quânticos largos,\\\\ estreitos e triplos em campos magnéticos baixos. Dependendo dos estudos desejados, me-\\\\dimos a magnetoresistência em regime linear e não linear e sob a aplicação de corrente AC, irradiação de microondas e em gradiente de temperatura ao longo das amostras. Relatamos a observação de efeitos não lineares de corrente alternada em oscilações magneto-inter-sub-bandas de poços quânticos triplos. A oscilação MIS em sistemas de poços quânticos individuais e duplos e também os efeitos não lineares devido à corrente contínua foram estudados antes nestes sistemas. Nossos resultados são explicados de acordo com um modelo generalizado baseado na parte de não equilíbrio da função de distribuição de elétrons. A magnetorresistência não local sob irradiação de microondas é também estudada nesta tese. Os resultados obtidos proporcionam evidências para uma corrente de estado de borda estabilizada por irradiação de microondas, devido às ressonâncias não lineares e foram descritas por um modelo baseado em dinâmica não linear e mapa padrão de Chirikov. Finalmente, observamos uma correlação estreita entre as oscilações de resistência e oscilações de tensão de arraste do fônon induzidas por irradiação de microondas em um sistema bidimensional de eletrons sob campo magnético perpendicular. A influência da resistividade de dissipação modificada por microondas na tensão de arraste do fônon perpendicular ao fluxo de fônons pode explicar nossas observações. Além disso, características nítidas observadas na tensão de arraste do fônon sugerem que os domínios de corrente associados a estes estados podem existir na ausência de condução DC externa. / In this thesis, we present the studies of magneto-transport in narrow , wide and triple quantum wells in low magnetic fields. Depending on the desired studies, we have measured the magneto-resistance both in linear and nonlinear regimes and under the application of AC current, microwave irradiation and temperature gradient along the samples. We have reported the observation of nonlinear effects of AC current on magneto-inter-sub-band oscillations (MIS) of triple quantum wells (TQWs). The MIS oscillations in single and double quantum well system and also nonlinear effects due to DC current have been studied before in these systems. Our results are explained according to a generalized model based on non-equilibrium part of electron distribution function. The nonlocal magneto-resistance under microwave irradiation is also studied within this thesis. The obtained results provide evidence for an edge-state current stabilized by microwave irradiation due to nonlinear resonances and have been described by a model based on the nonlinear dynamics and Chirikov standard map. Finally, we have observed the phonon-drag voltage oscillations correlating with the resistance oscillations under microwave irradiation in a two-dimensional electron gas in perpendicular magnetic field. The influence of dissipative resistivity modified by microwave on phonon-drag voltage perpendicular to the phonon flux can explain our observations. Moreover, sharp features observed in phonon drag voltage suggest the current domains associated with these states can exist in the absence of external DC driving.

This work is about the properties of several low dimensional, small systems of interacting particles. We demonstrate that interaction between particles in the low dimensional small systems can lead to many unexpected effects. We considered electrons in a Luttinger liquid, in a superconducting state, and atoms in a magneto-optical trap. Using bosonization techniques we calculated the thermopower of a Luttinger liquid wire with an impurity. We predicted the appearance of a phase dependent force and resonant phase dependent magnetization in the nanoscopic superconductor - normal metal superconductor (or superconductor - two dimensional electron gas - superconductor) junction. We also considered plasma oscillations inside thin superconducting tubes and rings and predicted that the velocities of the plasmons in these systems are periodic functions of the magnetic flux. By considering neutral atoms in a harmonic trap we discovered that strongly repelling atoms do not form Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature but tend to occupy different orbitals with small mutual overlap, forming crystallite structures similar to Wigner molecules of electrons inside a quantum dot.