Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-105).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2003. / Bibliography: leaves 60-66.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 70-82.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 278-288).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-123).

The advancement in the eld of cold-atoms has generated a lot of interest in the condensed matter community. Cold-atom experiments can simulate clean, disor-der/impurity free systems very easily. In these systems, we have a control over various parameters like tuning the interaction between particles by the Feshbach resonance, tuning the hopping between lattice sites by laser intensity and so on. As a result, these systems can be used to mimic various theoretical models, which was hindered because of various experimental limitations. Thus, we have an ex-perimental tool in which we can start with a simple theoretical model and later tune the model experimentally and theoretically to simulate the real materials. This will be helpful in studying the physics of the real materials as we can control interactions as well as the impurities can also be taken care of. But the advance-ment in the eld of cold atoms has seen a roadblock for the fermions in optical lattices. The super uid and anti-ferromagnetic phases has not been achieved for fermions in optical lattices due to the \cooling problem" (entropy issues). In this thesis, we have addressed the issue of the \cooling problem" for fermions in optical lattice systems and studied the system with determinant quantum Monte Carlo technique. We start by giving a general idea of cold-atoms and optical lat-tice potentials, and a brief review of the experimental work going on in the cold-atomic systems. Experimental limitations like \fermionic cooling problem" have been discussed in some detail. Then we proposed a bilayer band-insulator model to circumvent the \entropy problem" and simultaneously increasing the transi-tion temperature for fermions in optical lattices. We have studied the attractive Hubbard model, which is the minimal model for fermions in optical lattices. The techniques that we have used to study the model are mean- eld theory, Gaussian uctuation theory and determinant quantum Monte Carlo numerical technique. . Chapter-1 : provides a general introduction to the ultra-cold atoms, optical lattice and Feshbach resonance. In this chapter we have discussed about cold-atom experiments in optical lattice systems. Here, we have brie y discussed the control over various parameters in the experiments. The goal of these experiments is to realize or mimic many many-body Hamiltonians in experiments, which until now was just a theoretical tool to describe various many-body physics. In the end we give a brief idea for introducing disorder in the cold-atom experiments discuss the limitations of these experiments in realizing the \interesting" super uid and anti-ferromagnetic phases of fermionic Hubbard model in optical lattices. Chapter-2 : gives a brief idea of \Determinant Quantum Monte-Carlo" (DQM C) technique that has been used to study these systems. In this chapter we will discuss the DQM C algorithm and the observables that can be calculated. We will discuss certain limitation of the DQM C algorithm like numerical instability and sign problem. We will brie y discuss how sign problem doesn't occur in the model we studied. Chapter-3 : discusses the way by which we can bypass the \cooling problem" (high entropy state) to get a fermionic super uid state in the cold atom experi-ments. In this chapter we propose a model whose idea hinges on a low-entropy band-insulator state, which can be tuned to super uid state by tuning the on-site attractive interaction by Feshbach resonance. We show through Gaussian uctua-tion theory that the critical temperature achieved is much higher in our model as compared to the single-band Hubbard model. Through detailed variational Monte Carlo calculations, we have shown that the super uid state is indeed the most stable ground state and there is no other competing order. In the end we give a proposal for its realization in the ultra-cold atom optical lattice systems. Chapter-4 : discusses the DQM C study of the model proposed in chapter- 3. Here we have studied the various single-particle properties like momentum distribution, double occupancies which can be easily measured in cold-atom ex-periments. We also studied the pair-pair and the density-density correlations in detail through DQM C algorithm and mapped out the full T U phase diagram. We show that the proposed model doesn't favor the charge density wave for the interaction strengths we are interested in. Chapter-5 : gives a brief idea of the e ect of adding an on-site random disorder in our proposed bilayer-Hubbard model. We study the e ect of random disorder on various single-particle properties which can be easily veri ed in cold-atom ex-periments. We studied the suppression of the pair-pair correlations as we increase the disorder strength in our proposed model. We nd that the critical value of the interaction doesn't change in the weak-disorder limit. We estimated the critical disorder strength needed to destroy the super uid state and argued that the tran-sition from the super uid to Bose-glass phase in presence of disorder lies in the universality class of (d + 1) XY model. In the end, we give a schematic U V phase diagram for our system. Chapter-6 : We studied the bilayer attractive Hubbard model in different lattice geometry, the bilayer honeycomb lattice, both in presence and in absence of the on-site random disorder. We discussed how the pair-pair and density-density cor-relations behave in the presence and absence of disorder. Through the finite-size scaling analysis we see the co-existence of the super fluid and the charge density wave order at half- lling. An in nitesimal disorder destroys the CDW order com-pletely while the super uid phase found to be robust against weak-disorder. We estimated the critical interaction strength, the critical temperature and the critical disorder strength through nite-size scaling, and provide a putative phase diagram for the system considered.

XAVIER, Leandro Jader Pitombeira. Confinamento eletrônico em bicamadas de grafeno. 2011. 92 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Física) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Física, Departamento de Física, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2011. / Submitted by Edvander Pires (edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-16T20:16:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_dis_ljpxavier.pdf: 22751750 bytes, checksum: 0c79760922f8cf3c9ccf576a092c48d7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edvander Pires(edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-10-20T20:54:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_dis_ljpxavier.pdf: 22751750 bytes, checksum: 0c79760922f8cf3c9ccf576a092c48d7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-20T20:54:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_dis_ljpxavier.pdf: 22751750 bytes, checksum: 0c79760922f8cf3c9ccf576a092c48d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011

abstract: The continuous random network (CRN) model of network glasses is widely accepted as a model for materials such as vitreous silica and amorphous silicon. Although it has been more than eighty years since the proposal of the CRN, there has not been conclusive experimental evidence of the structure of glasses and amorphous materials. This has now changed with the advent of two-dimensional amorphous materials. Now, not only the distribution of rings but the actual atomic ring structure can be imaged in real space, allowing for greater charicterization of these types of networks. This dissertation reports the first work done on the modelling of amorphous graphene and vitreous silica bilayers. Models of amorphous graphene have been created using a Monte Carlo bond-switching method and MD method. Vitreous silica bilayers have been constructed using models of amorphous graphene and the ring statistics of silica bilayers has been studied. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physics 2014

Ionic-type transistors are important devices for precise chemical control and biosensing applications. Previous work by Tybrandt et al. has demonstrated a novel approach to constructing an ionic transistor using conducting polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and quarternized- polyvinyl benzyl chloride (q-PVBC). This approach could be combined with the 3D stamp method of generating concentration gradients in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) as shown by Liu et al. to create a charged lipid-based ionic polar junction transistor. An electric potential applied across the SLB would drive charged lipids towards the opposite electrode, thus generating current flow across the SLB. Incorporation of a charged-lipid functionalized PEDOT derivative as demonstrated by Johansson et al. would allow a longer period of current flow before charge carriers are depleted. Such a device could offer novel approaches to biosensing.

This thesis describes a novel reconstitution of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptors (AMPARs) for the purposes of structural characterization by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and functional characterization by electrical recordings of lipid bilayers. AMPARs are glutamate gated ion channels, ubiquitous in the vertebrate central nervous system where they mediate fast excitatory neurotransmission. In a healthy brain, AMPARs are involved in memory formation and learning and their dysfunction has been related to numerous neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia and many others. AMPARs were reconstituted at high and low densities. Densely reconstituted samples contained >100 receptors per μm2, a value comparable to the AMPAR density at synapses. This allowed, for the first time, the imaging of full length tetrameric AMPARs in native-like conditions and with clearly assigned domains: the extracellular domains extended 14 nm above the membrane in agreement with electron microscopy (EM) and X-ray crystallography data. Lipid-protein interactions were studied in samples with low protein density with the receptors showing preference for lipids in the liquid crystalline phase. The activity of the reconstituted receptors was confirmed through single-channel recordings. This is the first case in which an AMPAR has been reconstituted and given (a) single-channel recordings with (b) physiologically plausible conductance levels and (c) pharmacological and no-protein controls and (d) structure. As a result, previously reported biochemistry and EM are now for the first time available in concert with AFM and single-channel recordings for a purified AMPAR of known composition.