arXiv subjects

Georges Bouzerar

Publications and source records attributed to Georges Bouzerar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Magnetic Couplings in Half-Filled Bipartite Graphs

We break from perturbative frameworks to establish a non-perturbative generalization of magnetic exchange rules in half-filled bipartite networks. While historical models remain strictly tied to the debatable perturbation approach in the dilute limit and require the absence of zero-energy modes, our universal mechanism governs exchange interactions across arbitrary bipartite graphs. By bypassing traditional expansion bottlenecks, this framework provides an analytical predictive tool for magnetism in complex lattices, offering key design principles to engineer stable, long-range order in next-generation 2D spintronic devices

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2026

Flux-induced strengthening of the magnetic couplings in a flat-band diamond chain

The physics in flat bands has emerged as an essential field in condensed matter physics where a plethora of phenomena can be unveiled, such as anomalous transport properties, superconductivity dominated by quantum geometry or exotic topological phases. Our goal here is to show that even in magnetic systems, the presence of flat bands can give rise to unexpected features. More precisely, we address the impact of an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux on the exchange couplings in magnetic diamond chains. The most remarkable result is the significant amplification of magnetic couplings at short distances induced by the AB flux, leading to a considerable increase in the thermal conductivity of the magnons. We have also shown that the flux-dependent decaying length of the couplings is connected to the quantum metric of the flat bands. Our results could be of interest for the control of magnetic properties in spintronic devices and relevant for the heat transport by magnons at the nanoscale in quantum technologies.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2025

Robustness of flat band superconductivity against disorder in a two-dimensional Lieb lattice model

Recently, the possibility of high-temperature superconductivity (SC) in flat-band (FB) systems has been the focus of a great deal of activity. This study reveals that unlike conventional intra-band SC for which disorder has a dramatic impact, that associated with FBs is surprisingly robust to disorder-induced fluctuations and quasi-particle localization. In particular, for weak off-diagonal disorder, the critical temperature decreases linearly with disorder amplitude for conventional SC, whereas it is only quadratic in the case of SC in FBs. Our findings could have a major impact on the research and development of new compounds whose high purity will no longer be a critical barrier to their synthesis.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Generating long-distance magnetic couplings with flat bands

One of the great challenges for the large-scale development of quantum technologies is to generate and control the entanglement of quantum bits through interactions of sufficiently long range. Two decades ago, spin chains have been proposed for quantum communication. Unfortunately, couplings are of very short range in general which drastically limits the communication to very short distances. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of flat bands (FBs) can trigger very long-distance magnetic couplings in spin chains. Furthermore, we show that the typical decaying lengthscale is directly related to the quantum metric of the flat band eigenstates. We believe that our unexpected findings could open up an alternative route to enable long-distance quantum communication.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Engineering flux-controlled flat bands and topological states in a Stagome lattice

We present the Stagome lattice, a variant of the Kagome lattice, where one can make any of the bands completely flat by tuning an externally controllable magnetic flux. This systematically allows the energy of the flat band to coincide with the Fermi level. We have analytically calculated the compact localized states associated to each of these flat bands appearing at different values of the magnetic flux. We also show that, this model features nontrivial topological properties with distinct integer values of the Chern numbers as a function of the magnetic flux. We argue that this mechanism for making any of the bands exactly flat could be of interest to address the flat-band superconductivity in such a system. Additionally, we show that our results are robust even in the presence of a small amount of disorder. Furthermore, we believe that the phenomenon of photonic flat band localization could be studied in the Stagome lattice structure, designed for instance using femtosecond laser induced single-mode waveguide arrays.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Correlation functions and characteristic lengthscales in flat band superconductors

The possibility of an unconventional form of high temperature superconductivity in flat band (FB) material does not cease to challenge our understanding of the physics in correlated systems. Here, we calculate the normal and anomalous one-particle correlation functions in various one and two dimensional FB systems and systematically extract the characteristic lengthscales. When the Fermi energy is located in the FB, it is found that the coherence length ($\xi$) is of the order of the lattice spacing and weakly sensitive to the strength of the electron-electron interaction. Recently, it has been argued that in FB compounds $\xi$ could be decomposed into a conventional part of BCS type ($\xi_{BCS}$) and a geometric contribution which characterises the FB eigenstates, the quantum metric ($\langle g \rangle$). However, by calculating the coherence length in two possible ways, our calculations show that $\xi \neq \sqrt{\langle g \rangle.}$ This may suggest that the link between QM and coherence length is more complex, and leaves us with the open question: what is the appropriate definition of the coherence length in flat-band systems?

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Flat band superconductivity in a system with a tunable quantum metric : the stub lattice

Over the past years, one witnesses a growing interest in flat band (FB) physics which has become a playground for exotic phenomena. In this study, we address the FB superconductivity in onedimensional stub chain. In contrast to the sawtooth chain or the creutz ladder, for a given strength of the attractive electron-electron interaction, the stub chain allows the tuning of the real space spreading of the FB eigenstates (quantum metric or QM). We study in detail the interplay between the interaction strength and the mean value of the QM \langle g \rangle on the pairings and on the superfluid weight D_s. Our calculations reveal several interesting and intriguing features. For instance, in the weak coupling regime, D_s with respect to \langle g \rangle exhibits two different types of behaviour. Despite the fact that the pairings differs drastically, D_s scales linearly with the QM only when its \langle g \rangle is large enough (small gap limit). On the other hand, when the QM is of small amplitude an unusual power law is found, more precisely D_s \propto \langle g \rangle^νwhere ν\longrightarrow 2 in the limit of large single particle gap. In addition to the numerical calculations, we have provided several analytical results which shed light on the physics in both the weak and strong coupling regime. Finally, we have addressed the impact of the thermal fluctuations on the superfluid weight.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

RKKY couplings in the Lieb lattice: flat-band induced frustration

Despite their dispersion-less character, flat bands (FBs) are often at the heart of remarkable physical phenomena. Because, FBs may be responsible for unconventional quantum electronic transport, our purpose is to investigate their impact on the RKKY couplings (J(R)). As a good candidate, we choose the The Lieb lattice which consists of one four-fold coordinated atom (A) and two two-fold coordinated atoms (B,C) per unit cell. As in graphene, at the neutrality point, J(R) is found to fall off as 1/R3. The coupling between a pair of impurities on sublattice A are found ferromagnetic and isotropic. In contrast, for impurities on the two-fold coordinated sites, J(R) reveals (i) a strong angular anisotropy and (ii) can be both ferromagnetic (F) or antiferromagnetic (AF). The AF character introduced by the FB can largely dominate, and introduces frustration effects. The FB is found to have a drastic impact on J(R) for impurities located on (B,C) sublattices. We have also addressed the effect of tuning the carrier density that reveals remarkable features as well.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Universal quantum transport and impurity band super metallicity in self-similar graphene carpets

Fractals, a fascinating mathematical concept made popular in the eighties, remained for decades a beautiful scientific curiosity mainly. With the tremendous advances in nanofabrication techniques, such as nanolithography, it has become possible to design self-similar materials with fine structures down to nanometer scale. Here, we investigate the effects of self similarity on quantum electronic transport in graphene Sierpinski carpets. We find that a gap opens up in the electron spectrum in the middle of which lies a flat band of zeros energy modes. Although these states have a zero velocity, a supermetallic phase is found at the neutrality point. For Fermi energy located in the valence/conduction band and in the presence of a small inelastic scattering the system stays metallic and the transport is found strongly anisotropic.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Investigating the high-temperature thermoelectric properties of n-type rutile TiO$_2$

Transition metal oxides are considered promising thermoelectric materials for harvesting high-temperature waste heat due to their stability, abundance and low toxicity. Despite their typically strong ionic character, they can exhibit surprisingly high power factors $σS^2$, as in n-type SrTiO$_3$ for instance. Thus, it is worth examining other transition metal oxides that might surpass the performances of SrTiO$_3$. This theoretical paper investigates the thermoelectric properties of n-type rutile TiO$_2$, which is the most stable phase of titanium oxide up to 2000 K. The electronic structure is obtained through ab initio calculations, while the prominent features of strong electron-phonon interaction and defects states are modelled using a small number of parameters. The theoretical results are compared with a wealth of experimental data from the literature, yielding very good agreements over a wide range of carrier concentrations. This validates the hypothesis of band conduction in rutile TiO$_2$ and allows the prediction of the high-temperature thermoelectric properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Large enhancement of the thermoelectric power factor in disordered materials through resonant scattering

In the search for more efficient thermoelectric materials, scientists have placed high hopes in the possibility of enhancing the power factor using resonant states. In this study, we investigate theoretically the effects of randomly distributed resonant impurities on the power factor. Using the Chebyshev Polynomial Green's Function method, we compute the electron transport properties for very large systems (10 million atoms) with an exact treatment of disorder. The introduction of resonant defects can lead to a large enhancement of the power factor together with a sign inversion in the Seebeck coefficient. This boost depends crucially on the position of the resonant peak, and on the interplay between elastic impurity scattering and inelastic processes. Strong electron-phonon or electron-electron scattering are found detrimental. Finally, the robustness of our results is examined in the case of anisotropic orbitals and two-dimensional confinement. Our findings are promising for the prospect of thermoelectric power generation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Boosting the power factor with resonant states: a model study

A particularly promising pathway to enhance the efficiency of thermoelectric materials lies in the use of resonant states, as suggested by experimentalists and theorists alike. In this paper, we go over the mechanisms used in the literature to explain how resonant levels affect the thermoelectric properties, and we suggest that the effects of hybridization are crucial yet ill-understood. In order to get a good grasp of the physical picture and to draw guidelines for thermoelectric enhancement, we use a tight-binding model containing a conduction band hybridized with a flat band. We find that the conductivity is suppressed in a wide energy range near the resonance, but that the Seebeck coefficient can be boosted for strong enough hybridization, thus allowing for a significant increase of the power factor. The Seebeck coefficient can also display a sign change as the Fermi level crosses the resonance. Our results suggest that in order to boost the power factor, the hybridization strength must not be too low, the resonant level must not be too close to the conduction (or valence) band edge, and the Fermi level must be located around, but not inside, the resonant peak.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Carrier induced ferromagnetism in the insulating Mn doped III-V semiconductor InP

Although InP and GaAs have very similar band-structure their magnetic properties appear to drastically differ. Critical temperatures in (In,Mn)P are much smaller than that of (Ga,Mn)As and scale linearly with Mn concentration. This is in contrast to the square root behaviour found in (Ga,Mn)As. Moreover the magnetization curve exhibits an unconventional shape in (In,Mn)P contrasting with the conventional one of well annealed (Ga,Mn)As. By combining several theoretical approaches, the nature of ferromagnetism in Mn doped InP is investigated. It appears that the magnetic properties are essentially controlled by the position of the Mn acceptor level. Our calculations are in excellent agreement with recent measurements for both critical temperatures and magnetizations. The results are only consistent with a Fermi level lying in an impurity band, ruling out the possibility to understand the physical properties of Mn doped InP within the valence band scenario. The quantitative success found here reveals a predictive tool of choice that should open interesting pathways to address magnetic properties in other compounds

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2015

Unraveling the nature of carrier mediated ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors

After more than a decade of intensive research in the field of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), the nature and origin of ferromagnetism, especially in III-V compounds is still controversial. Many questions and open issues are under intensive debates. Why after so many years of investigations Mn doped GaAs remains the candidate with the highest Curie temperature among the broad family of III-V materials doped with transition metal (TM) impurities ? How can one understand that these temperatures are almost two orders of magnitude larger than that of hole doped (Zn,Mn)Te or (Cd,Mn)Se? Is there any intrinsic limitation or is there any hope to reach in the dilute regime room temperature ferromagnetism? How can one explain the proximity of (Ga,Mn)As to the metal-insulator transition and the change from Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) couplings in II-VI compounds to double exchange type in (Ga,Mn)N? In spite of the great success of density functional theory based studies to provide accurately the critical temperatures in various compounds, till very lately a theory that provides a coherent picture and understanding of the underlying physics was still missing. Recently, within a minimal model it has been possible to show that among the physical parameters, the key one is the position of the TM acceptor level. By tuning the value of that parameter, one is able to explain quantitatively both magnetic and transport properties in a broad family of DMS. We will see that this minimal model explains in particular the RKKY nature of the exchange in (Zn,Mn)Te/(Cd,Mn)Te and the double exchange type in (Ga,Mn)N and simultaneously the reason why (Ga,Mn)As exhibits the highest critical temperature among both II-VI and III-V DMS.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2014

Spin-wave excitations in presence of nanoclusters of magnetic impurities

Nanoscale inhomogeneities and impurity clustering are often found to drastically affect the magnetic and transport properties in disordered/diluted systems, giving rise to rich and complex phenomena. However, the physics of these systems still remains to be explored in more details as can be seen from the scarce literature available. We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the effects of nanoscale inhomogeneities on the spin excitation spectrum in diluted magnetic systems. The calculations are performed on relatively large systems (up to $N$=$66^3$). It is found that even low concentrations of inhomogeneities have drastic effects on both the magnon density of states and magnon excitations. These effects become even more pronounced in the case of short ranged magnetic interactions between the impurities. In contrast to the increase of critical temperatures $T_C$, reported in previous studies, the spin-stiffness $D$ is systematically suppressed in the presence of nanoscale inhomogeneities. Moreover $D$ is found to strongly depend on the inhomogeneities' concentration, the cluster size, as well as the range of the magnetic interactions. The findings are discussed in the prospect of potential spintronics applications. We believe that this detailed numerical work could initiate future experimental studies to probe this rich physics with the most appropriate tool, Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS).

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2013

Reconsidering the possibility of room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn doped Zirconium oxide

The possibility to induce long range ferromagnetic order by doping oxides with transition metal ions has become a very exciting challenge in the last decade. Theoretically, it has been claimed that Mn doped ZrO$_2$ could be a very promising spintronic candidate and that high critical temperatures could be already achieved even for a low Mn concentration. Some experiments have reported room temperature ferromagnetism (RT-FM) whilst some others only paramagnetism. When observed, the nature of RT-FM appears to be controversial and not clearly understood. In this study, we propose to clarify and shed light on some of theses existing issues. A detailed study of the critical temperatures and low energy magnetic excitations in Mn doped ZrO$_2$ is performed. We show that the Curie temperatures were largely overestimated previously, due to the inadequate treatment of both thermal and transverse fluctuations, and disorder. It appears that the Mn-Mn couplings can not explain the observed RT-FM. We argue, that this can be attributed to the interaction between large moments induced in the vicinity of the manganese. This is similar to the non-magnetic defect induced ferromagnetism reported in oxides, semiconductors and graphene/graphite.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Nano-pattern induced ferromagnetism in strongly correlated electrons

Band ferromagnetism in strongly correlated electron systems is one of the most challenging issue in today's condensed-matter physics. In this theoretical work, we study the competition between kinetic term, Coulomb repulsion, and on-site correlated disorder for various lattice geometries. Unconventional and complex ferromagnetic phase diagrams are obtained: wide region of stability, cascade of transitions, re-entrance, high sensitivity to the carrier concentration and strongly inhomogeneous ground states for relatively weak on-site potential. The direct and systematic comparison with Exact Diagonalization shows that the Unrestricted Hartree-Fock method is unexpectedly accurate for such systems, which allows large size cluster calculations. A match of the order of 99.9% for weak and intermediate couplings is found, slightly reduced to about 95% in the large repulsion regime. Nano-patterned lattices appear to be particularly promising candidates that could, with the tremendous progress in growing and self-organized techniques, be synthesized in a near future.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Spontaneous magnetization in presence of nanoscale inhomogeneities in diluted magnetic systems

The presence of nanoscale inhomogeneities has been experimentally evidenced in several diluted magnetic systems, which in turn often leads to interesting physical phenomena. However, a proper theoretical understanding of the underlying physics is lacking in most of the cases. Here we present a detailed and comprehensive theoretical study of the effects of nanoscale inhomogeneities on the temperature dependent spontaneous magnetization in diluted magnetic systems, which is found to exhibit an unusual and unconventional behavior. The effects of impurity clustering on the magnetization response have hardly been studied until now. We show that nanosized clusters of magnetic impurities can lead to drastic effects on the magnetization compared to that of homogeneously diluted compounds. The anomalous nature of the magnetization curves strongly depends on the relative concentration of the inhomogeneities as well as the effective range of the exchange interactions. In addition we also provide a systematic discussion of the nature of the distributions of the local magnetization.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗