This thesis consists of research work in the broad area of soft condensed matter theory with a focus on active matter. The study of long wavelength, low frequency collective behavior of active particles (bacterial suspensions, fish schools, motor-microtubule extracts, active gels) forms an interesting modification to liquid-crystal hydrodynamics, in which the constituent particles carry permanent stresses that stir the fluid. Activity introduces novel instabilities and many novel aspects emerge. Our works focus on the dynamics, order, fluctuations and instabilities in these systems. In particular, we investigated the dynamics, order and fluctuation properties emerging from effective hydrodynamic descriptions of translationally ordered active matter and also studied those in microwave-driven quantum Hall nematics. We also investigated the rheological properties of active suspensions subjected to an applied orienting field. A summary of the works carried out is as follows. Translationally ordered active phases – active smectics and active cholesterics: Active or self-propelled particles consume and dissipate energy generating permanent stresses that stir the fluid around them. The collective behavior of systems of active particles, in systems with translational order, pose interesting questions and possibilities of new physics that differ strikingly from those in systems at thermal equilibrium with the same spatial symmetry. We developed the hydrodynamic equations of motion for (a) an active system with spontaneously broken translational symmetry in one direction, i.e., smectic and (b) the simplest uniaxially ordered phase of active chiral objects, namely, an active cholesteric. We analyze the fluctuation properties as well as the nature of characteristic instabilities that these systems can display and make a number of predictions. For example, in the case of an active smectic, we show that active stresses generate an effective active layer tension which, if positive, sup-presses the Landau-Peierls effect, leading to long-range smectic order in dimension d =3 and quasi-long-range in d =2, in sharp contrast with thermal equilibrium systems. Negative active layer tension in bulk systems, however, lead to a spontaneous Helfrich-Hurault undulation instability of the layers, accompanied by spontaneous flow. Also, active smectics, unlike orientationally ordered active systems, normally have finite concentration fluctuations. Similarly, for the case of cholesterics we show that cholesteric elasticity intervenes to suppress some of the instabilities present in active nematics. xi Numerical simulation of active smectics: We present results from a Brownian Dynamics simulation, with no hydrodynamic interaction, of a system of apolar active particles form-ing translational liquid-crystalline order in a suspension. The particles interact through a prolate-ellipsoidal Gay-Berne potential. We model activity minimally through different noise temperatures for movement along and normal to the orientation axis of each particle. We present preliminary results on the disruptive effect of activity on smectic order for the parameter values investigated. Future work will test the predictions of our theory [1] on active smectics. Rheology of active suspensions near field-induced critical points : Shear induces orientation of active stresses in a suspension, through flow alignment. Depending on the sign, activity then either enhances or reduces the viscosity. The change in viscosity, in the zero frequency limit, is proportional to the product of the magnitude of active stress and the system relaxation time. A strong enough orienting field can make the system approach a critical point and the relaxation time diverges. We show that, this results in the divergence of viscosity at zero frequency making the system strongly viscoelastic. Depending on the sign, activity strengthens or reduces the effect of the field. We also investigate the rheological property of an active suspension with mixed polar and nematic oreder. Active quantum Hall systems: We construct the hydrodynamic theory for a 2d charged active nematic with 3d electrostatics. We have investigated the interplay of the Coulomb interaction and activity in these systems. We show that activity competes to enhance the charge density fluctuations normally suppressed by long-ranged Coulomb interactions. The charge structure factor Sq of the corresponding passive charged nematic goes to zero as q, whereas in charged active nematics, activity leads to a nonvanishing charge structure factor at small wavenumber. We also show how the effect of an applied magnetic field can be incorporated into the dynamics of the system and leave scope for further studies on these effects.

Heteroestruturas digitais magnéticas (DMHs) são estruturas semicondutoras em que a distribuição de impurezas magnéticas (Mn) restringe-se a alguns arranjos bidimensionais (monocamadas) regularmente espaçados entre si. Na presença de um campo magnético, a interação de troca sp-d entre os momentos magnéticos localizados e os portadores itinerantes é responsável por um desdobramento de spin gigante, da ordem ou até superior que a separação cíclotron dos níveis de Landau. Aqui eu calculo a estrutura eletrônica de poços quânticos digitais magnéticos do grupo II-VI. Resolvo as equações de Kohn-Sham da teoria do funcional da densidade dependente de spin na aproximação de massa efetiva. Eu então calculo diversas propriedades magnetoópticas e de transporte relevantes experimentalmente. Em particular, eu investigo a física dependente de spin presente nestes sistemas sob dois diferentes pontos de vista. Primeiramente o enfoque é no efeito do magnetismo do Mn sobre o potencial dependente de spin da interação de troca sp-d, em particular nos efeitos da aglomeração antiferromagnética e da diluição do seu perfil de concentração (segregação e interdifusão). Ao considerar estes efeitos eu reproduzo resultados experimentais para desdobramento de spin $Delta_E$ e tempos de espalhamento de spin $tau_$ [S. A. Crooker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 505 (1995); Phys. Rev. B 61, 1736 (2000)]. Na segunda parte eu mudo o enfoque para a física de gases de elétrons bidimensionais (2DEGs) altamente polarizados e mostro a importância da forte dependência de spin das contribuições de muitos corpos (troca e correlação) presentes nestes sistemas. Em particular, estes efeitos são relevantes para o surgimento de fases de ferromagnetismo de efeito Hall quântico. Eu calculo o magnetotransporte no regime de efeito Hall quântico para DMHs baseadas em ZnSe e CdTe. Meus resultados reproduzem resultados experimentais [R. Knobel et al., Phys. Rev. B 65, 235327 (2002); J. Jaroszynski et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 266802 (2002)] para a dependência com o campo magnético, com a temperatura, o aparecimento de picos anômalos e o surgimento de curvas de histerese em várias propriedades físicas. / Digital magnetic heterostructures (DMHs) are semiconductor structures with magnetic impurities (Mn) restricted to some planar arrangements (monolayers) regularly spaced. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the sp-d exchange interaction between the localized magnetic moments and the itinerant carriers is responsible for a giant spin splitting, of the order of, or even greater than, the cyclotron separation between Landau levels. Here I calculate the electronic structure of group II-VI digital magnetic quantum wells. I solve the Kohn-Sham equations of the spin-density functional theory within the effective mass approximation. Then I calculate some magneto-optical and transport properties which are experimentally relevant. In particular, I investigate the spin dependent physics of these systems from two different points of view. First, I focus on effects of the Mn magnetism on the sp-d exchange spin dependent potential, particularly the effect of antiferromagnetic clustering and the effect of dilution (segregation and interdiusion) of the Mn content prole. By considering these effects I reproduce experimental results for the spin splitting $Delta_E$ and spin scattering times $tau_$ [S. A. Crooker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 505 (1995); Phys. Rev. B 61, 1736 (2000)]. In the second part I move on to the physics of spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs), and show the relevance of the strong dependence of the many-body contributions (exchange and correlation) with the spin polarization. In particular, these effects are relevant for the development of quantum Hall ferromagnetic phases. I calculate magneto- transport in the quantum Hall eect regime for DMHs consisting of ZnSe and CdTe. My results reproduce experimental results [R. Knobel et al., Phys. Rev. B 65, 235327 (2002); J. Jaroszynski et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 266802 (2002)] for the dependence with magnetic eld, temperature, development of anomalous resistivities spikes and hysteretic behaviors in many physical properties.

Strong quantum correlations between many particles in low dimensions lead to emergence of interesting phases of matter. These phases are often studied through the properties of the many-body eigenstates of an interacting quantum many-body system. The folklore example of topological order in the ground states is the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect. With the current developments in the field of ultracold atoms in optical lattices, realizing FQH physics on a lattice and being able to create and braid anyons is much awaited from the view point of fault tolerant quantum computing. This thesis contributes to the field of FQH effect and anyons in a lattice setting. Conformal field theory has been useful to build interesting lattice FQH models which are few-body and non-local. We provide a general scheme of truncation to arrive at tractable local models whose ground states have the desired topological properties. FQH models are known to host anyons, but, it is a hard task when it comes to braiding them on small sized lattices with edges. To get around this problem, we demonstrate that one can squeeze the anyons and braid them successfully within a smaller area by crawling them like snakes on modest sized open lattices. As a numerically cheap approach to detect topological quantum phase transitions, we again resort to anyons that are only well defined in a topological phase. We create defects and study a simple quantity such as the charge of the defect to test whether the phase supports anyons or not. On the other hand, with the advent of many-body localization (MBL) and quantum many-body scars, interesting eigenstate phases which were otherwise only known to occur in ground states have been identified even at finite energy densities in the many-body spectra of generic systems. This thesis also contributes to the field of non-equilibrium physics by portraying models that display interesting non-ergodic phases and also quantum many-body scars. For instance, we show that an emergent symmetry in a disordered model can be used as a tool to escape MBL in a single eigenstate while not preventing the rest of the states from localizing. This can lead to an interesting situation of weakly broken MBL phase where a non-MBL state lives in the spectrum of MBL like states. We also demonstrate the emergence of a non-ergodic, but also a non-mbl phase in a non-local model with SU(2) symmetry. We provide two constructions of rather different models with quantum many-body scars with chiral and non-chiral topological order.

<div>Over the last decade, Dirac matter has become one of the most prominent fields of research in contemporary material science due to the incredibly rich physics of the Dirac equation. Notable examples are the Dirac cones in graphene, Weyl points in TaAs, and gapless edge states in Bi₂Te₃. These unique phases of matter are intimately related to the topological structure of Dirac fermions. However, it remains an open question if the topological structure of Maxwell's equations predicts yet new phases of matter. This thesis will conclusively answer this question.</div><div><br></div><div>Topological electrodynamics is concerned with the geometry of electromagnetic waves in condensed matter. At the microscopic level, photons couple to the dipole-carrying excitations of a material, such as plasmons and excitons, which hybridize to form new normal modes of the system. The interaction between these bosonic oscillators is the origin of temporal and spatial dispersion in optical response functions like the conductivity tensor. Our main achievement is motivating a global interpretation of these response functions, over all frequencies and wavevectors. This theory led us to the conclusion that there are topological invariants associated with the conductivity tensor itself. In this thesis, we show exactly how to calculate these electromagnetic invariants, in both continuum and lattice theories, to identify unique Maxwellian phases of matter. Magnetohydrodynamic electron fluids in strongly-correlated 2D materials like graphene are the first candidates of this new class of topological phase. The fundamental physical mechanism that gives rise to a topological electromagnetic classification is Hall viscosity which adds a nonlocal component to the Hall conductivity. To study the topological electrodynamics, we propose viscous Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory -- a Lagrangian framework that naturally generates the equations of motion, nonlocal Hall response and the boundary conditions. We demonstrate that nonlocal Hall conductivity is the spin-1 photonic equivalent of dispersive mass and induces precession of bulk photonic skyrmions. Nontrivial photonic skyrmions are associated with Dirac monopoles in the bulk momentum space and a singular Berry gauge. A singular gauge occurs when the photonic mass changes sign. Remarkably, the boundary of this medium supports gapless chiral edge states that are spin-1 helically-quantized and satisfy open boundary conditions.</div>

No description available.

<p dir="ltr"><b>Tellurium (Te) stands out as an elemental narrow-bandgap semiconductor characterized by its distinctive chiral crystal structure. The interplay between fundamental symmetries and the topological properties of electrons has garnered significant attention in the scientific community. With its unique chiral crystal structure featuring three Tellurium atoms spiraling within a single unit cell, Tellurium offers a singular material system. This system provides an exceptional opportunity to explore the novel quantum and topological transport properties of electrons. Hydrothermally grown two-dimensional (2D) Te with a thickness of several nanometers gives us an opportunity to precisely control the carrier density and the carrier type in Te using gate voltage. In this dissertation, the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of Te is quantitatively analyzed using the weak anti-localization effect. The strong SOC also gives rise to the Weyl point at the band edge of the conduction band. The topological nontrivial band structure of Te is characterized by a π phase shift in the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations. Due to the high mobility, the quantum Hall effect is measured with low spin and valley Landau levels controlled by an electric and magnetic field. Bilayer charge transferable quantum Hall states of Weyl fermions is observed in a wide Te quantum well. The topological phase transition from a semiconductor to Weyl semimetal under high pressure is studied up to 2.47 GPa. The chirality of 2D Te is separated by the hot sulfuric acid etching technique. The spin configuration and topological charge of the Weyl node exhibit a reversal in different chiralities, leading to an inverse in nonlinear responses, encompassing both electrical (nonreciprocal transport in the longitudinal direction and nonlinear planar Hall effect in the transvers direction) and optical phenomena (circular photogalvanic effect and circular photovoltaic effect). Our results unveil the topological nature of the Tellurium (Te) band structures, offering a promising avenue for controlling charge and spin transport within the chiral degree of freedom.</b></p>

Cette thèse décrit deux expériences mettant en lumière l'existence d'un degré de liberté fermionique dans l'effet Josephson: le doublet d'Andreev. Elles sont toutes les deux réalisées sur l'élément Josephson le plus élémentaire qui soit, un contact atomique entre deux électrodes supraconductrices. Dans la première, nous avons observé la disparition du supercourant, qui traduit le piégeage spontané d'une quasiparticule dans l'un des deux états liés d'Andreev. Dans la seconde, nous avons réalisé la spectroscopie photonique de ce système à deux niveaux, en utilisant une jonction Josephson à la fois en tant qu'émetteur et détecteur microonde. On peut bien rendre compte des spectres observés avec un modèle spin-boson incluant le doublet d'Andreev et un mode électromagnétique de l'environnement.

Un conducteur est bien caractérisé par sa conductance donnée par la formule de Landauer. Toutefois, le bruit contient davantage d'informations. Il mesure les fluctuations temporelles du courant autour de sa valeur moyenne. De plus, le signe des corrélations croisées est lié à la statistique des porteurs de charge. Cette thèse aborde deux principaux thèmes à savoir le transport dans les liquides de Luttinger et dans les structures hybrides. Dans la première partie, nous commençons par donner une vision détaillée des liquides de Luttinger et des systèmes qu'ils modélisent. Nous parlons également du formalisme de Keldysh permettant de traiter des problèmes hors équilibre. Puis, nous rentrons dans le vif du sujet en étudiant l'effet de la largeur d'un contact ponctuel quantique sur le courant de rétrodiffusion entre les deux états de bords de l'effet Hall quantique. L'augmentation de la largeur du contact ponctuel quantique entraîne une forte diminution du courant de rétrodiffusion. Dans un autre chapitre, nous développons une technique permettant l'utilisation d'un circuit RLC couplé inductivement au circuit mésoscopique pour détecter les corrélations de courant en régime photo-assisté. La mesure de ces corrélations s'effectue à travers la charge aux bornes du condensateur. Dans une deuxième partie, nous consacrons notre étude au transport non-local dans les structures hybrides supraconductrices. L'étude de la réflexion d'Andreev croisée y est détaillée. Finalement, nous étudions une structure en double point quantique reliée à deux électrodes en métal normal et une supraconductrice. Nous mettons en avant la séparation des paires de Cooper en mesurant simultanément les courants de branchement et les corrélations croisées. Nous démontrons que dans le régime antisymétrique, c'est-à-dire lorsque les deux points quantiques ont des niveaux d'énergie opposés par rapport au potentiel chimique du supraconducteur, la réflexion d'Andreev croisée est optimisée. / The conductance is the most natural quantity to characterize a quantum conductor. It is given by the Landauer Formula. However, noise contains more information. It measures the current fluctuations around its average value. Moreover, the sign of the crossed correlations is related to the statistics of carriers. This thesis broaches two main topics which are the transport in the quantum Hall effect and in hybrid circuits.First, we start by introducing the Luttinger liquid and the systems which are modelized by them. Also, we discuss the Keldysh formalism in order to treat nonequilibrium problems. Then, we study the effect of the width of a quantum point contact on the backscattering current between two edge states of the quantum Hall effect. By increasing the width of the quantum point contact, we show that the backscattering current is strongly reduced. In another chapter, we develop a technique to use a RLC circuit inductively coupled to a mesoscopic circuit in order to measure the current correlations in the photo-assisted regime. The measurement of these correlations is performed through the charge on the capacitor plates.Secondly, we present the non-local transport in hybrid structures. The mechanism of Crossed Andreev Reflection is explained. Finally, we study a double quantum dot connected to two normal leads and a superconducting lead. We introduce the separation of the Cooper pair by measuring together the branching currents and the crossed correlations. We demonstrate that in the anti-symmetric regime (the energy level of the two quantum dots have opposite values with respect to the chemical potential of the superconducting lead), crossed Andreev reflection is optimized.

Les propriétés d'un gaz électronique bidimensionnel soumis à champs magnétiques intenses et à bas champs magnétiques sont étudiés par la spectroscopie optique: l'effet Hall quantique fractionnaire (FQHE) par photoluminescence et diffusion inélastique de la lumière, puis un nouvel effet oscillatoire de la résistance induit par micro-ondes (MIROs) par transport et absorption des micro-ondes. Les effets des interactions entre électrons du 2DEG sont à l'origine de FQHE. Jusqu'à maintenant, les expériences d'optiques n'ont pas permis les études des interactions entre électrons sur toute la gamme de fractions. Les fractions 1/3, 2/5, 3/7, 3/5, 2/3 et 1 sont clairement observées dans les spectres non traités et montrent une symétrie autour du facteur de remplissage 1/2. La symétrie des fermions composites ets observée dans les spectres. A bas champ magnétique, sous irradiation micro-onde, les propriétés de transport s'écartent nettement des oscillations bien connues de Shubnikov - de Haas pour évoluer vers une série d'états de résistance zéro. Les résultats des mesures d'absorption des micro-ondes sont présentés pour deux échantillons. L'échantillon de basse mobilité montre seulement une absorption autour de la résonance cyclotron (CR). L' échantillon de haute mobilité montre aussi des signaux d'absorption aux harmoniques de la CR. Les mesures ont permis d'inférer l'existence de deux processus d'absorption différents et séparés. L'absorption non résonante est mieux visible en transport et observée comme MIROs, et l'absorption résonante, mieux observée dans les mesures d'absorption, suit probablement les règles de polarisation de résonance cyclotron.

Ce mémoire d'habilitation à diriger les recherches présente des théories de champ moyen que j'ai appliquées à l'étude de systèmes d'électrons à fortes corrélations. Il s'appuie sur des travaux que j'ai effectués, pour certains dans la continuité de ma thèse, pour d'autres dans des directions nouvelles. L'une des problématiques centrales est celle des transitions de phases quantiques, et les systèmes considérés ont le point commun de décrire des impuretés quantiques, réelles ou artificielles. Les différentes méthodes de champ moyen utilisées sont présentées par des exemples dans le cadre de problèmes physiques particuliers. Après un premier chapitre introductif fortement focalisé sur l'exemple des composés d'électrons f, ce mémoire est structuré en trois chapitres principaux connectés respectivement aux trois thématiques suivantes : les composés Kondo, les liquides de spin, et les systèmes désordonnés.