Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:16:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DarlanAM.pdf: 1538525 bytes, checksum: af051bdcc4894d0bf236b2e6f943baa9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Esta tese apresenta um abrangente e atualizado estudo de algumas propriedades f?sicas da mol?cula do DNA, tais como seus aspectos termodin?micos (calor espec?fico) e eletr?nicos (transmissividade eletr?nica, fator de localiza??o, entre outros). A mol?cula do DNA pode ser considerada uma seq??ncia simb?lica de quatro letras: guanina (G), adenina (A), citosina (C) e timina (T). Ela ? usualmente descrita como uma cadeia bidimensional aleat?ria com correla??o de curto-alcance, mas n?o h? impedimentos para que a cadeia seja crescida seguindo seq??ncias quasi-peri?dicas, como por exemplo, as sequ?ncias de Fibonacci e Rudin-Shapiro. Com o intuito de investigar a relev?ncia das correla??es subjacentes nas distribui??oes dos nucleot?deos, comparamos os resultados para a sequ?ncia gen?mica do DNA (Ch22) com as duas seq??ncias artificiais citadas acima, que possuem correla??ao de longo alcance. A an?lise do calor espec?fico ? feita considerando-se formalismos apropriados; o cl?ssico, utilizando a distribui??o de Maxwell-Boltzmann; a descri??oo qu?ntica, utilizando a distribui??o de Fermi-Dirac; e o formalismo da n?o-extensividade, usando a entropia de Tsallis. Os espectros de energias s?o calculados utilizando-se a equa??o de Schrodinger unidimensional na aproxima??o de liga??o forte. N?s calculamos tamb?m a transmissividade eletr?nica, o comprimento de localiza??o, bem como I (corrente) vs V (potencial), curva que caracteriza as propriedades el?tricas de uma mol?cula de DNA dupla fita. O modelo te?rico considerado faz uso de um Hamiltoniano efetivo com aproxima??o de liga??o-forte descrevendo um el?tron movendo-se em uma cadeia com um simples orbital por s?tio e intera??es entre vizinhos mais pr?ximos, juntamente com a equa??o de Schrodinger, e a muito conveniente t?cnica da matriz de transfer?ncia

La question cruciale dans l'exploration du stockage ultime à haute densité est l'anisotropie magnéto-cristalline (MCA) qui provient du couplage spin-orbite. Utilisant à la fois la méthode des liaisons fortes et les calculs « premiers principes », nous calculons la MCA de nanocristaux de fer et de cobalt qui peuvent être obtenus par croissance épitaxiale sur un substrat SrTiO3 avec un contrôle remarquable de leur taille, forme et structure. Afin de définir une décomposition locale appropriée de la MCA, nous avons implémenté le « Théorème de Force » à l'aide d'une formulation grand-canonique dans le code QUANTUM ESPRESSO ainsi que dans notre modèle de liaisons fortes. Il est intéressant de noter que pour les deux éléments, la MCA totale de nanocristaux isolés est largement dominée par les facettes (001) dont il résulte un comportement opposé: une anisotropie « hors-plan » pour les nanocristaux (contenant plusieurs centaines d'atomes) de fer et « dans le plan » pour ceux de cobalt. Nous avons également mis en évidence un fort renforcement de la MCA pour les petits clusters (contenant quelques atomes seulement) déposés sur un substrat SrTiO3. En conséquence, nous prévoyons que les nanocristaux de fer (même de très petite taille) devraient être magnétiquement plus stables et sont donc de bons candidats potentiels pour le stockage magnétique. Enfin, notre analyse MCA résolu en orbitales s'applique également à d'autres système et permet, par exemple, de prédire le comportement de la MCA de films minces magnétiques après déposition de matériaux organiques comme le graphène ou de molécules tel C60. / The crucial issue in exploring ultimate density data storage is magneto-crystalline anisotropy (MCA) which originates from spin-orbit coupling. Using both tight-binding and first-principles methods, we report the MCA of Fe and Co nanocrystals that can be grown epitaxially on SrTiO3 with a remarkable control of their size, shape and structure. In order to define the proper local decomposition of MCA, we implemented the “Force Theorem” within the grand-canonical formulation in QUANTUM ESPRESSO as well as in our tight-binding model. Interestingly, for both elements, the total MCA of free nanocrystals is largely dominated by (001) facets resulting in the opposite behavior: out-of-plane and in-plane magnetization direction is favored in Fe and Co nanocrystals (containing up to several hundred atoms), respectively. We also find a strong enhancement of MCA for small clusters (containing only several atoms) upon their deposition on a SrTiO3 substrate. As a consequence, we predict that the Fe nanocrystals (even rather small) should be magnetically stable and are thus good potential candidates for magnetic storage devices. Finally, our rather general orbital-resolved analysis of MCA applies also to other systems and allows, for example, predicting the MCA behavior of magnetic thin films upon covering by various organic materials such as graphene or C60 molecule.

Nous considérons le problème d’un électron sur des pavages quasipériodiques en une et deux dimensions. Nous introduisons tout d’abord les pavages quasipériodiques d’un point de vue géométrique, et défendons en particulier l’idée que ces pavages sont les pavages apériodiques les plus proches de la périodicité. Nous concentrant plus particulièrement sur l’un des pavages quasipériodiques les plus simples, la chaîne de Fibonacci, nous montrons à l’aide d’un groupe de renormalisation que la multifractalité des états électroniques découle directement de l’invariance d’échelle de la chaîne. Élargissant ensuite notre champ d’étude à un ensemble de chaînes quasipériodiques, nous nous intéressons au théorème de label des gaps, qui décrit comment la géométrie d’une chaîne donnée contraint les valeurs que peut prendre la densité d’états intégrée dans les gaps du spectre électronique. Plus précisément, nous nous intéressons à la façon dont l’énoncé de ce théorème est modifié lorsque l’on considère une séquence d’approximants périodiques approchant une chaîne quasipériodique. Enfin, nous montrons comment des champs de hauteurs géométriques peuvent être utilisés pour construire des états électroniques exacts sur des pavages en une et deux dimensions. Ces états sont robustes aux perturbations du hamiltonien, sous réserve que ces dernières respectent les symétries du pavage sous-jacent. Nous relions les dimensions fractales de ces états à la distribution de probabilités des hauteurs, que nous calculons de façon exacte. Dans le cas des chaînes quasipériodiques, nous montrons que la conductivité suit une loi d’échelle de la taille de l’échantillon, dont l’exposant est relié à cette même distribution de probabilités. / We consider the problem of a single electron on one and two-dimensional quasiperiodic tilings. We first introduce quasiperiodic tilings from a geometrical point of view, and point out that among aperiodic tilings, they are the closest to being periodic. Focusing on one of the simplest one-dimensional quasiperiodic tilings, the Fibonacci chain, we show, with the help of a renormalization group analysis, that the multifractality of the electronic states is a direct consequence of the scale invariance of the chain. Considering now a broader class of quasiperiodic chains, we study the gap labeling theorem, which relates the geometry of a given chain to the set of values the integrated density of states can take in the gaps of the electronic spectrum. More precisely, we study how this theorem is modified when considering a sequence of approximant chains approaching a quasiperiodic one. Finally, we show how geometrical height fields can be used to construct exact eigenstates on one and two-dimensional quasiperiodic tilings. These states are robust to perturbations of the Hamiltonian, provided that they respect the symmetries of the underlying tiling. These states are critical, and we relate their fractal dimensions to the probability distribution of the height field, which we compute exactly. In the case of quasiperiodic chains, we show that the conductivity follows a scaling law, with an exponent given by the same probability distribution.

Although band theory is about a century old, it remains relevant today as a tool for the treatment of electrons in solids. The confluence of mathematical ideas like geometry and topology with band theory has proven to be a ripe avenue for research in the past few decades. The importance of Fermi surface geometry, especially in conjunction with electronic correlation, has been well recognized. One particular thread in this direction is probing the occurrence of non-trivial Fermi surface geometry, and its influence on macroscopic properties of materials. A notable example of exotic Fermi surface geometry arises from singular points of the dispersion, and these have been known since 1953. The investigation into these was reignited recently, culminating in the work presented in this thesis. In this dissertation, I investigate two broad categories of singular points in bands. At a singular point, either the dispersion or the Fermi surface fail to be smooth. This may cause distinct signatures in transport and spectroscopic properties when the singular point occurs close to the Fermi level. In the two dimensional setting, I classify using catastrophe theory, the point singularities arising from higher order saddles of the dispersion. These are the more exclusive cousins of the regular van Hove saddle that cause, among other things, a power law divergence in the density of states. The role of lattice symmetries in aiding or preventing the occurrence of these singularities is also carefully explored. In the case of three dimensional bands, I investigate the spectroscopic properties of the nodal point singularity, arising from a linear band crossing. In particular, I determine the distinct signature of nodal points in the analytic, momentum resolved, joint density of states (JDOS) and the numerically calculated resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectrum, within the fast collision approximation that ignores core hole effects. The results presented here will be the stepping stone towards a careful future calculation, incorporating the potential edge singularity effects through core hole potential. Such a calculation may be directly comparable with ongoing experiments.

No description available.

Single crystal nickel-based superalloys are used in modern gas turbines because of their remarkable resistance to creep deformation at elevated temperatures, which is ensured by the addition of significant amounts of refractory elements. Too high concentrations of refractory elements can lead to the formation of topologically-close packed (TCP) phases during exposure to conditions of high temperature and stress which result in the degradation of the creep properties. The traditional methods for predicting the occurrence of TCP phases in Ni-based superalloys have been based on the PHACOMP and newPHACOMP methodologies which are well-known to fail with respect to new generations of alloys. In this work a novel two-dimensional structure map (Nbar, deltaV/V) for TCP phases where Nbar is the valence-electron count and deltaV/V is a compositional dependent size factor. This map is found to separate the experimental data on the TCP phases of binary, ternary and multi-component TCP phases into well-defined regions corresponding to different structure types such as A15, sigma, chi, delta, P, R, mu, and Laves. In particular, increasing size factor separates the A15, sigma and chi phases from the delta, P, R, mu phases. The structure map is then also used in conjunction with CALPHAD computations of sigma phase stability to show that the predictive power of newPHACOMP for the seven component Ni–Co–Cr–Ta–W–Re–Al system is indeed poor. In order to gain a microscopic understanding of the observed structural trends, namely the differences between the two groups of TCP structures with increasing deltaV/V and the trend from A15 to sigma to chi with increasing Nbar, the electronic structure is coarse-grained from density functional theory (DFT) to tight-binding to bond-order potentials (BOPs). First, DFT is used to calculate the structural energy differences across the elemental 4d and 5d transition metal series and the heats of formation of the binary alloys Mo-Re, Mo-Ru, Nb-Re, and Nb-Ru. These calculations show that the valence electron concentration stabilizes A15, sigma and chi but destablizes mu and Laves phases. The latter are shown to be stabilized instead by relative size difference. Second, a simple canonical TB model and in combination with the structural energy difference theorem is found to qualitatively reproduce the energy differences predicted by the elemental DFT calculations. The structural energy difference theorem rationalizes the importance of the size factor for the stability of the mu and Laves binary phases as observed in the structure map and DFT heats of formation. Finally, analytic BOP theory, is employed to identify the structural origins of the energetic differences between TCP structure-types that lead to the trends found within the two-dimensional structure map.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Technology where a solitary dopant acts as the active component of an opto-electronic device is an emerging  field known as solotronics, and bears the promise to revolutionize the way in which information is stored, processed and transmitted. Magnetic doped semiconductors and in particular (Ga, Mn)As, the archetype of dilute magnetic semiconductors, and topological insulators (TIs), a new phase of quantum matter with unconventional characteristics, are two classes of quantum materials that have the potential to advance spin-electronics technology. The quest to understand and control, at the atomic level, how a few magnetic atoms precisely positioned in a complex environment respond to external stimuli, is the red thread that connects these two quantum materials in the research presented here. The goal of the thesis is in part to elucidate the properties of transition metal (TM) impurities near the surface of GaAs semiconductors with focus on their response to local magnetic and electric fields, as well as to investigate the real-time dynamics of their localized spins. Our theoretical analysis, based on density functional theory (DFT) and using tight-binding (TB) models, addresses the mid-gap electronic structure, the local density of states (LDOS) and the magnetic anisotropy energy of individual Mn and Fe impurities near the (110) surface of GaAs. We investigate the effect of a magnetic field on the Mn acceptor LDOS measured in cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy, and provide an explanation of why the experimental LDOS images depend weakly on the field direction despite the strongly anisotropic nature of the Mn acceptor wavefunction. We also investigate the effects of a local electrostatic field generated by nearby charged As vacancies, on individual and pairs of ferromagnetically coupled magnetic dopants near the surface of GaAs, providing a means to control electrically the exchange interaction of Mn pairs. Finally, using the mixed quantum-classical scheme for spin dynamics, we calculate explicitly the time evolution of the Mn spin and its bound acceptor, and analyze the dynamic interaction between pairs of ferromagnetically coupled magnetic impurities in a nanoscaled semiconductor. The second part of the thesis deals with the theoretical investigation of a single substitutional Mn impurity and its associated acceptor state on the (111) surface of Bi2Se3 TI, using an approach that combines DFT and TB calculations. Our analysis clarifies the crucial role played by the spatial overlap and the quasi-resonant coupling between the Mn-acceptor and the topological surface states inside the Bi2Se3 band gap, in the opening of a gap at the Dirac point. Strong electronic correlations are also found to contribute significantly to the mechanism leading to the gap, since they control the hybridization between the p orbitals of nearest-neighbor Se atoms and the acceptor spin-polarization. Our results explain the effects of inversion-symmetry and time-reversal symmetry breaking on the electronic states in the vicinity of the Dirac point, and contribute to clarifying the origin of surface-ferromagnetism in TIs. The promising potential of magnetic-doped TIs accentuates the importance of our contribution to the understanding of the interplay between magnetic order and topological protected surface states.

Le système zirconium-hydrogène est très étudié dans le cadre de la sûreté nucléaire car la précipitation d'hydrures entraîne la fragilisation des gainages, à base d'alliage de zirconium. Il s'agit de la première barrière de confinement des produits radioactifs : son intégrité doit être maintenue tout au long de la vie des assemblages combustible, en centrale y compris en cas d'accident et post-centrale (transport et entreposage). De nombreuses incertitudes demeurent quant aux cinétiques de précipitation des hydrures et à l'impact des contraintes sur leur précipitation. La modélisation à l'échelle atomique de ce système permettrait d'apporter des clarifications sur les mécanismes en jeu. Les méthodes traditionnelles de modélisation atomistique sont basées sur des approches thermostatistiques, dont la précision et la fiabilité dépendent du potentiel interatomique qui les alimente. Or il n'existe pas de potentiel rendant possible une étude rigoureuse du système Zr-H. Cette thèse a permis de développer cet outil manquant en utilisant l'approximation des liaisons fortes. Au-delà de ce nouveau potentiel, ce travail donne un guide détaillé des nombreuses étapes d'une dérivation de tels potentiels avec la prise en compte de l'hybridation spd, ajustés ici sur des calculs DFT. Ce guide est établi tant pour un métal de transition pur que dans la perspective d'un couplage métal-covalent (carbures, nitrures et siliciures métalliques). / The zirconium-hydrogen system is of nuclear safety interest, as the hydride precipitation leads to the cladding embrittlement, which is made of zirconium-based alloys. The cladding is the first safety barrier confining the radioactive products: its integrity shall be kept during the entire fuel-assemblies life, in reactor, including accidental situation, and post-operation (transport and storage). Many uncertainties remain regarding the hydrides precipitation kinectics and the local stress impact on their precipitation. The atomic scale modeling of this system would bring clarifications on the relevant mechanisms. The usual atomistic modeling methods are based on thermostatistic approaches, whose precision and reliability depend on the interatomic potential used. However, there was no potential allowing a rigorous study of the Zr-H system. The present work has indeed addressed this issue: a new tight-binding potential for zirconium hydrides modeling is now available. Moreover, this thesis provides a detailed manual for deriving such potentials accounting for spd hybridization, and fitted here on DFT results. This guidebook has be written in light of modeling a pure transition metal followed by a metal-covalent coupling (metallic carbides, nitrides and silicides).

Submitted by Jorge Silva (jorgelmsilva@ufrrj.br) on 2017-10-13T20:23:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014 - Arnaldo Cesar Almeida Oliveira.pdf: 1706735 bytes, checksum: e15df5900be5e8087531ffa6a80e066e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-13T20:23:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014 - Arnaldo Cesar Almeida Oliveira.pdf: 1706735 bytes, checksum: e15df5900be5e8087531ffa6a80e066e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-10-31 / CAPES / Understanding the structural properties of dislocations is essential since these defects govern the processes plastic deformation of materials. Particularly in semiconductors, these studies are important given the relevance of these materials for microelectronics. In this work, our focus will be the 90o partial dislocations in silicon. For the theoretical study of atomic-scale crystal dislocations, we use simulations based on semi-empirical quantum-mechanical methods closely linked to the tight-binding treatment, since it considers in its formulation that crystalline electronic states can be described in terms of atomic orbitals: Density Matrix Method Tight-Binding Order-N (DMTB). This method has a low computational cost which allows us to work with very large systems atoms in structures representation -including thousands of sites. In short, we describe how to produce and represent the 90o partial dislocations in Si, we consider three models for its core structure: a unreconstructed where the atoms have an almost fivefold coordination; a model reconstructed with period equal to the perfect lattice; and a model with twice period comparing with the perfect lattice. Finally, we calculate the range in energy of the system with the distance between the dislocations and the free surface of Si. / Compreender as propriedades estruturais de discord?ncias cristalinas ? fundamental uma vez que estes defeitos governam os processos de deforma??o pl?stica em materiais. Particularmente em semicondutores, esses estudos s?o importantes dada a relev?ncia desses materiais para a microeletr?nica. Neste trabalho nosso foco ser?o as discord?ncias cristalinas parciais a 90o em sil?cio. Para o estudo te?rico em escala at?mica das discord?ncias cristalinas, usamos simula??es baseadas em metodologias quanto-mec?nicas semi-emp?ricas atrav?s de um m?todo intimamente ligado ao tratamento tight-binding, uma vez que considera em sua formula??o que os estados eletr?nicos cristalinos podem ser descritos em termos de orbitais at?micos: M?todo da Matriz Densidade Tight-Binding de Ordem-N (DMTB). Este m?todo tem um custo computacional baixo o que permite que trabalhemos com sistemas muito grandes de ?tomos na representa??o das estruturas ? com milhares de s?tios inclusive. Em suma, descrevemos como produzir e representar as discord?ncias parciais a 90o em Si consideramos tr?s modelos para sua estrutura de caro?o: um n?o reconstru?do onde os ?tomos possuem uma coordena??o quase qu?ntupla; um modelo reconstru?do com per?odo igual ao per?odo da rede perfeita; e um modelo com per?odo dobrado em rela??o ao da rede perfeita. Por fim, calculamos a varia??o da energia do sistema com a dist?ncia entre as discord?ncias e a superf?cie livre do Si.