Image of Helene Bouchiat

Join us for a physics colloquium, entitled ‘Revealing the topological nature of transport at mesoscopic scales with quantum interferences’ with Hélène Bouchiat, Mesoscopic Physics team in Laboratoire de Physique des Solides at the Université Paris-Saclay.

Please note – The lecture will run from 16:00-17:00, followed by refreshments from 17:00-18:00 in the Level 2 Foyer of the Blackett Building.

Abstract

A mesoscopic conductor is characterized by its size smaller than the phase coherence length of electronic wave-functions (typically one micrometer at low temperature). Mesoscopic electronic transport depends strongly on the nature of interferences between these wave functions determined by the scattering disorder potential which tends to localize electronic states at low dimension.  Moreover, these interferences can be modulated by a magnetic flux through the Aharonov-Bohm effect giving rise to orbital persistent currents in ring geometries.

We show that these basic fundamental properties of mesoscopic quantum  interferences can be used to reveal  the existence  and the physical  location of 1d protected states in topological insulators.

Professional biography

1977-1981        Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris France

1977-1978        MS University Paris VI

1978-1979       DEA de Physique atomique et statistique (Paris VI)

1979-1981        Master Thesis: “Nature and properties of local order in the spin glass alloy Ag Mn”, U. Paris XI, LPS                                   Orsay, directed by P. Monod.

1986                    PhD: “Spin glass transition : critical behaviour and magnetic noise », directed by P. Monod.

1987-1988        Postoctoral stay at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill (USA) in the group of L. Lévy.

1989                    Back to France :  Creation of  a  research groups on Mesoscopic Physics in Orsay.

1994                    S. et A. Abragam award of French Academy of Sciences

1996                    Research Director CNRS          

Honours, Awards, Fellowships, Membership of Professional Societies

1987                     Bronze medal of CNRS

1994                   Anatole and Suzanne Abragam Award of the French Academy of Sciences

1998                    Jaffé Award of the French Academy of Sciences

2006                   Silver medal of CNRS

2010                    Elected member of the French Academy of Science

2019                   ERC Advanced Grant

Teaching

Several advanced Master classes on Mesoscopic Physics and Quantum transport as well as in physics summer schools.

Helene has also Directed or codirected 20 PhD theses and 10 post-doctoral researchers and has published 200 articles ~10000 citations (google scholar)

Getting here