Soutenance de thèse de James Boust

James Boust soutiendra publiquement ses travaux de thèse le 18 novembre 2022 au CPHT dans la salle de conférence Louis Michel.

Titre de la thèse : Propriétés magnétiques et optiques de composés de terres rares corrélés à partir des premiers principes 

Membres du Jury :
Alexander Lichtenstein (Universität Hamburg)
Markus Aichhorn (Graz University of Technology)
Silke Biermann (Ecole polytechnique)
Nora Dempsey (Institut Néel CNRS)
Olle Eriksson (Uppsala University)
Cesare Franchini (Universität Wien)

Abstract: In so-called "strongly correlated" materials, the strong Coulomb interaction which correlates the movement of electrons at the atomic scale can give rise to outstanding properties at the macroscopic scale. The materials studied in this thesis contain rare-earth elements (like neodymium) which usually exhibit these strong correlation effects. Due to their remarkable properties, rare-earth compounds have numerous technological applications; they are for instance used as high-performance magnets in electric motors. The demand for rare earths is therefore increasing; on the other hand, mining them is difficult, expensive and polluting. Hence, optimizing the properties and composition of rare-earth-based materials can be of great technological, economical and environmental interest. From the point of view of theoretical physics, describing these materials constitutes a real challenge, precisely due to their strongly correlated nature. In this thesis, we develop theoretical approaches to study the magnetic and optical properties of rare-earth compounds, notably the industrially relevant neodymium magnet. These theoretical methods are said to be from "first principles" as they are based on the fundamental laws governing the physics at the atomic level.