General information
Organisation
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.
Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.
The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
Reference
SL-DRF-25-0475
Direction
DRF
Thesis topic details
Category
Technological challenges
Thesis topics
Theoretical design of quasi-atomic systems in the band gap of semiconductors/insulators for quantum application
Contract
Thèse
Job description
The rise of room-temperature applications like single photon emission of the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy NV center in diamond has renewed the interest in the search for materials having a quasi-atomic system QAS analogous to that of NV, mainly characterized by the presence of well localized in-gap defect levels generate occupied by electrons and leading to high spin states. In this Ph.D. work, theoretical methods will be used to design new QASs analogous to the NV center as well as, in selected QAS, to predict charge states and explore the effect of the proximity of the surface on the thermodynamic stability and on the spin state structure. The objectives are to design new QASs; To predict charge states of selected QASs in the bulk of the host material; To study changes in the charge state brought by the proximity of the surface; To extend the Hubbard model used to compute the excited states and to account for the electron-lattice interaction in the calculation of the excited states; To study the effect of the presence of deep level states in the band gap on the transport of electrons and phonons. The methodology developed at LSI to design new QASs with high spin states will be exploited and new systems analogous to the NV center will be looked for. Density functional theory (DFT) and a Hubbard model developed at LSI will be the main tools of this PhD.
University / doctoral school
Ecole Doctorale de l’Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)
IP. Paris
Thesis topic location
Site
Saclay
Requester
Position start date
01/10/2025
Person to be contacted by the applicant
VAST Nathalie
nathalie.vast@polytechnique.edu
CEA
DRF/IRAMIS/LSI/LSI
IRAMIS/LSI
Ecole Polytechnique
91120 Palaiseau
01 69 33 45 51
Tutor / Responsible thesis director
VAST Nathalie
nathalie.vast@polytechnique.edu
CEA
DRF/IRAMIS/LSI/LSI
IRAMIS/LSI
Ecole Polytechnique
91120 Palaiseau
01 69 33 45 51
En savoir plus
https://www.polytechnique.edu/annuaire/vast-nathalie
https://portail.polytechnique.edu/lsi/fr/research/theorie-de-la-science-des-materiaux
http://www.nathalie-vast.fr