This thesis describes studies on two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) in graphene and related 2D systems. Magnetotransport investigations specifically in graphene and its bilayer system are demonstrated in detail, while the experimental techniques presented in this thesis are widely applicable to a large variety of other 2D materials. Chapter 1 gives an introduction and motivation for the principal topic presented in this thesis, with a general introduction to carbon nano-materials and an overview of the current state of graphene-related research and technological development (RTD). Chapter 2 establishes a basic theoretical framework which is essential for interpreting the results presented in this thesis, starting with the crystal and electronic band structures of graphene and its bilayer, followed by high magnetic fields effects on transport properties in these 2D systems. Chapter 3 details the experimental methods directly related to the presented work. The next three chapters report experimental results of three specific magnetotransport studies. Chapter 4 reports the disorder effects on epitaxial graphene in the vicinity of the Dirac point. Quadratic increases of carrier densities with temperature are found to be due to intrinsic thermal excitation combined with electron-hole puddles induced by charged impurities. It is also shown that the minimum conductivity increases with increasing disorder strength, in good agreement with quantum-mechanical numerical calculations. Chapter 5 reports measurements of the quantum Hall effect in epitaxial graphene showing the widest quantum Hall plateau observed to date extending over 50 T, attributed to a magnetic field dependent charge transfer process from charge reservoirs with exceptionally high densities of states in close proximity to the graphene. Using a realistic framework of broadened Landau levels this process is modelled in excellent agreement with experimental results. In Chapter 6, energy relaxation of hot carriers in graphene bilayer systems is investigated from measurements on Shubnikovde Haas oscillations and weak localisation. The hot-electron energy loss rate follows the predicted T⁴ power-law at carrier temperatures from 1.4 up to about 100 K, due to electron-acoustic phonon interactions. Comparisons are made between graphene monolayer and bilayer systems and a much stronger carrier density dependence of the energy loss rate is found in the bilayer system. This thesis concludes with a summary of the most important findings of the topics that have been discussed. The significance and limitations of the present research are listed. Some suggestions and outlook are given for possible improvements and interesting areas of future research and development.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2017-07-05T15:11:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2690472 bytes, checksum: ac47355a688d2ccef5bffacce1f69e45 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-05T15:11:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2690472 bytes, checksum: ac47355a688d2ccef5bffacce1f69e45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / In this work, we study the e ects of torsion due a topological defect distribution (screw dislocations) in the dynamics of a free particle with spin in an elastic solid. When a particle moves in this medium, the e ect of the torsion associated with the distribution of defects is analogous to that of an applied magnetic eld, but with some subtle di erences. In order to understand the quantum behavior of the particle in this system, we rst turn to the classical part, calculating its equations of motion and tracing its trajectory through the geodesics, proving the behavior analogous to that of an applied magnetic eld generating the elastic Landau levels, nevertheless such particle can not be con ned to two dimensions. Spinning particles are subjected to the spin-torsion coupling similar to the Zeeman e ect, with the characteristic of being insensitive to the charge signal. A possible application, treated in this study, for this defect density, is in the Hall conductivity of the Integer Quantum Hall E ect, which we call elastic Hall-like conductivity. In order to have a better physical intuition of this problem, we plot some graphs of the elastic Hall-like conductivity as a function of temperature and chemical potential. / Neste trabalho, estudamos os efeitos da torção devido a uma distribuição de defeitos topológicos (deslocações parafuso) na dinâmica de uma partícula livre com spin em um solido elástico. Quando uma partícula se movimenta neste meio, o efeito da torção associado a distribuição de defeitos e análogo ao de um campo magnético aplicado, porem com algumas Sutis diferenças. Para entendermos o comportamento quântico da partícula neste sistema, Primeiramente nos voltamos para a parte clássica, calculando suas equações de movimento e Trancando sua trajetória através das geodésicas, armando o comportamento análogo ao de um campo magnético aplicado gerando os níveis de Landau elásticos, porém tal partícula não pode ser com nada em duas dimensões. Partículas com spin estão sujeitas ao acoplamento entre spin e torção ao semelhante ao efeito Zeeman, com a característica de serem insensíveis ao sinal da carga. Uma possível aplicação, abordada neste trabalho, para esta densidade de defeitos, Está na condutividade Hall do efeito Hall quântico inteiro, a qual chamou de condutividade Hall elástico. Para termos uma melhor intuicão física do problema, traçamos alguns gracos da condutividade Hall elástica em relação a temperatura e ao potencial químico.

Neste trabalho, nossa principal motivação foi o entendimento da dinâmica de pacotes de onda em isolantes topológicos 2D. Como excitações de carga se movem nesses materiais? De que maneira essas trajetórias dependem das condições iniciais, e de que forma as condições de contorno influenciam nessa dinâmica? Essas foram algumas das perguntas que guiaram nosso trabalho. Através de simulações computacionais, estudamos o movimento de pacotes de onda gaussianos em poços quânticos de HgTe/CdTe. O comportamento de isolante topológico para essa heteroestrutura foi prevista teoricamente no importante trabalho de Bernevig et al. (Science, vol. 314, no. 5806, 2006) e confirmada experimentalmente por König et al. (Science, vol. 318, no. 5851, 2007). Estudando-se a evolução temporal desse sistema, foi possível observar trajetórias que dependem de forma evidente, não apenas da orientação de spin, mas também da orientação de um pseudo-spin proveniente do modelo BHZ. Em sistemas com condições de contorno periódicas em ambas as dimensões e sem a aplicação de campos externos, foram observadas trajetórias com formato de espiral, acompanhadas por um \"side-jump\" dependente da direção do spin e do pseudo-spin. Em especial, para o caso em que o pseudo-spin está inicialmente orientado na direção-z, as trajetórias espiraladas foram subtituidas por um padrão do tipo \"zitterbewegung\" dependente de um potencial de \"bias\". Para sistemas confinados com bordas impenetráveis, observou-se a formação de estados de borda helicais característicos de isolantes topológicos. / In this work, our main motivation was the understanding about the dynamics of wave packets in 2D topological insulators. How charge excitations move throughout theses materials? In what way their trajectories depend on the initial conditions, and how boundary conditions change this dynamics? These were some of the questions that have guided us in our work. Using numerical simulations, we have studied the movement of gaussian wave packets in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells. The topological insulator behavior for this heterostructure was theoretically predicted on the important work conducted in 2006 by Bernevig et al. (Science, vol. 314, n. 5806, 2006), and experimentally confirmed by König et al. (Science, vol. 318, no. 5851, 2007) a year later. Studing the time evolution of this system, was possible to observe trajectories that depend evidently, not only from the spin projection, but also from the pseudospin orientation coming from the BHZ model. From simulations with periodic boundary conditions in both of the two dimensions, and without the application of any external fields, we observed spiral trajectories accompanied by a spin and pseudospin dependent side-jump. Especially, for the case in which the pseudospin was iniatially oriented in \"z\" direction, the spiral trajectories were replaced by a pattern of the type \"zitterbewegung\" dependent of a bias potential. For the confined systems with barriers of hardwall type, was observed the formation of helical edge states, that is the fingerprint of topological insulators.

Les isolants topologiques sont des isolants qui ne peuvent être différenciés des isolants atomiques que par une grandeur physique non locale appelée invariant topologique. L'effet Hall quantique et son équivalent sans champ magnétique l'isolant de Chern sont des exemples d'isolants topologiques. En présence d'interactions fortes, des excitations exotiques appelées anyons peuvent apparaître dans les isolants topologiques. L'effet Hall quantique fractionnaire (EHQF) est la seule réalisation expérimentale connue de ces phases. Dans ce manuscrit, nous étudions numériquement les conditions d'émergence de différents isolants topologiques fractionnaires. Nous nous concentrons d'abord sur l'étude de l'EHQF sur le tore. Nous introduisons une méthode de construction projective des états EHQF les plus exotiques complémentaire par rapport aux méthodes existantes. Nous étudions les excitations de basse énergie sur le tore de deux états EHQF, les états de Laughlin et de Moore-Read. Nous proposons des fonctions d'onde pour les décrire, et vérifions leur validité numériquement. Grâce à cette description, nous caractérisons les excitations de basse énergie de l'état de Laughlin dans les isolants de Chern. Nous démontrons également la stabilité d'autres états de l'EHQF dans les isolants de Chern, tels que les états de fermions composites, Halperin et NASS. Nous explorons ensuite des phases fractionnaires sans équivallent dans la physique de l'EHQF, d'abord en choisissant un modèle dont l'invariant topologique a une valeur plus élevée, puis en imposant au système la conservation de la symétrie par renversement du temps, ce qui modifie la nature de l'invariant topologique. / Topological insulators are band insulators which are fundamentally different from atomic insulators. Only a non-local quantity called topological invariant can distinguish these two phases. The quantum Hall effect is the first example of a topological insulator, but the same phase can arise in the absence of a magnetic field, and is called a Chern insulator. In the presence of strong interactions, topological insulators may host exotic excitations called anyons. The fractional quantum Hall effect is the only experimentally realized example of such phase. In this manuscript, we study the conditions of emergence of different types of fractional topological insulators, using numerical simulations. We first look at the fractional quantum Hall effect on the torus. We introduce a new projective construction of exotic quantum Hall states that complements the existing construction. We study the low energy excitations on the torus of two of the most emblematic quantum Hall states, the Laughlin and Moore-Read states. We propose and validate model wave functions to describe them. We apply this knowledge to characterize the excitations of the Laughlin state in Chern insulators. We show the stability of other fractional quantum Hall states in Chern insulators, the composite fermion, Halperin and NASS states. We explore the physics of fractional phases with no equivalent in a quantum Hall system, using two different strategies: first by choosing a model with a higher value of the topological invariant, second by adding time-reversal symmetry, which changes the nature of the topological invariant.

Cette thèse traite des systèmes de Hall quantiques en deux dimensions, dans lesquels les électrons peuvent porter plusieurs degrés de liberté discrets différents. Le ferromagnétisme de Hall quantique fournit une manière de traiter ces degrés de liberté électroniques comme des spins et isospins effectifs des électrons. Les différentes phases du système correspondent alors à différents ordres de spin ou d'isospin. En exploitant cette analogie, nous explorons différents aspects des systèmes bi-dimensionnels dans le régime de Hall quantique en étudiant la structure correspondante des spins et isospins. Ce travail consiste en trois parties qui analysent différents matériaux bi-dimensionnels dans le régime de l'effet Hall quantique. Dans chaque projet, nous utilisons la théorie de Hartree-Fock pour étudier le système à plusieurs composantes de spin et d'isospin dans l'approximation de champ moyen. Toutes nos considérations sont directement stimulées par des résultats expérimentaux. Notre motivation principale est d'obtenir une compréhension plus profonde des processus physiques et des mécanismes qui déterminent les propriétés des matériaux à partir d'investigations exclusivement théoriques de modèles abstraits. Nous espérons que cela permettra par la suite de tirer des conclusions sur les expériences, de donner des explications aux phénomènes observés ainsi que de donner des perspectives pour des investigations futures. / The present thesis deals with two-dimensional quantum Hall systems in which the electrons may be endowed with multiple discrete degrees of freedom. Quantum Hall ferromagnetism provides a framework to treat these electronic degrees of freedom as effective spins and isospins of the electrons. Different orderings of the electronic spins and isospins then characterise different possible phases of the system. Using this analogy, various aspects of the two-dimensional systems in the quantum Hall regime are explored theoretically by studying the corresponding spin and isospin structure. The work consists of three parts in which different two-dimensional materials are investigated in the quantum Hall regime. In any of the three projects presented within this thesis, Hartree Fock theory is employed to study the multicomponent spin and isospin system at the mean field level. All our considerations are stimulated directly by experimental results. We draw our main motivation from the key idea that purely theoretical investigations of abstract models may us allow to obtain deeper insights into the physical processes and mechanisms that determine the properties of the materials. This, in turn, we hope to allow conclusions about the experiments by providing possible explanations of the phenomena observed, as well as prospects for future investigations.

<div><div><div><p>When confined to a finite, two-dimensional area and exposed to a strong magnetic field, electrons exhibit a complicated, highly correlated quantum behavior known as the quantum Hall effect. This dissertation consists of finite size numerical investigations of this effect. One line of study develops treatment of the fractional quantum Hall effect using the hyperspherical method, in conjunction with applications to the few-body quantum Hall systems, e.g., highly-controlled atomic systems. Another line of research fully utilizes the developed numerical techniques to study on the platform of finite size fractional quantum Hall states the bulk-edge correspondence principle, which is universal for phases in topological orders. It has been demonstrated that the eigenstates associated with the entanglement spectrum reveal more information about the ground state than the spectrum alone.</p></div></div></div>

Dans certains états quantique de la matière, le courant peut être transporté par des porteurs de charges ayant une fraction e* de la charge élementaire. C'est notamment le cas de l'Effet Hall quantique fractionnaire (EHQF) qui se produit pour des systèmes électroniques bidimensionels à basse température et soumis à un fort champ magnetique perpendiculaire. Quand le nombre de quantum de flux en unité h/e est une fraction du nombre d'électrons, le courant se propage le long des bords de l'échantillon sans dissipation. Les porteurs de charges impliqués dans le transport portent une charge fractionnaire. La mise en évidence de ces charges peut être faite via les faibles fluctuations de courant dûes à la granularité de la charge. Nous présentons ici une méthode fiable de mesure de la charge fractionnaire basée sur des correlations croisées de fluctuations de courant. La dynamique de ces charges fractionnaires lorsque l'échantillon est irradié avec des photons GHz est étudiée, permettant la mesure de la fréquence Josephson des charges fractionnaires. Ces mesures valident les processus photo-assisté en régime d'EHQF et permettent une manipulation résolue en temps des charges fractionnaires, dans le but de réaliser une source d'anyon sur le principe du léviton afin de réaliser des tests de la statistique anyonique de ces charges fractionnaires. / In some quantum matter states, the current may remarkably be transported by carriers that bear a fraction e* of the elementary electron charge. This is the case for the Fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) that happens in two-dimensional systems at low temperature under a high perpendicular magnetic field. When the number of magnetic flux in units of h/e is a fraction of the number of electron, a dissipationless current flows along the edges of the sample and is carried by anyons with fractional charge. The observation of the fractional charge is realized through small current fluctuations produced by the granularity of the charge. Here is presented a reliable method to measure the fractional charge by the mean of cross-correlation of current fluctuations. Moreover, the dynamical properties of those charges is probed when the sample is irradiated with photos at GHz frequency. The long predicted Josephson frequency of the fractional charge is measured. Those measurements validate Photoassisted processes in the FQHE and enable timedomain manipulation of fractional charges in order to realize a single anyon source based on levitons to perform tests of the anyonic statistics of fractional charge.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is twofold and motivated by recent developments in string theory and extra dimensional models. The first objective is to describe the development and progress in the codimension-2 brane paradigm as a potential cosmological scenario. Secondly, it presents the Antide Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) conjecture, also known as holography, as a tool for calculating physical quantities in condensed matter system and goes on to model the quantum Hall effect. We first describe the initial development of treating back-reaction in codimension-2 branes systems with a scalar and gauge field. The purpose of this is to examine the low-energy effective dynamics on the brane. Furthermore, applications are then explored for D7-branes in F-theory as well as D3-branes in large extra dimensional scenarios explored as a model for the cosmological constant problem. The result of this work is that the higher and lower dimensional scenarios are consistent with each other once brane back-reaction is considered in these models. This work led to a number of future works one of which is in relation to the cosmological constant problem. While the subsequent work is beyond the scope of this thesis, we present a picture and further references for the reader. The larger, later, portion of this thesis introduces the concept of holography, its origins, and the applicability to condensed matter systems. Furthermore, we discuss the applicability in particular to the quantum Hall effect (QHE) and present a model in the holographic language that correctly reproduces some of the physics of the QHE. This includes a paper in which we introduce the model, along with demonstration of symmetry properties and conductivity calculations, as well as a paper which examines the finite size scaling behaviour of the model. As a benefit to the reader, we present a `starter edition guide' to the AdS/CFT dictionary preceding these papers for non-experts such that this thesis is self-contained. The upshot is that these avenues of work, in particular quantum Hall-ography, have been very successful in modeling physics using tools originally developed by string theory. As such, it provides support for string theory as a model and framework, as well as providing more opportunities for future predictions of physical quantities.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)