ESPCI web site
Thursday June 16 at 2:00 pm (Paris time)
Room Cellule, building C, 3rd floor
AI-enhanced detection of Fractal Electronic Textures in Vanadium Dioxide
Phases of matter and phase transitions are central concepts in condensed matter physics. From the liquid crystal displays of our computer screens, to the foams of bread and shaving cream, the suspension we know as milk, and the granular matter known as peanut butter, phases beyond the simple solid/liquid/gas permeate our lives. Electrons inside of materials have their own phases of matter and phase transitions, such as magnet, semiconductor, metal, and many other exotic phases of electrons. Spatially resolved surface probes have recently revealed rich electronic textures at the nanoscale and mesoscale in many quantum materials. We have defined new conceptual frameworks for interpreting and understanding these multiscale electronic textures by employing theoretical tools from fractal mathematics and disordered statistical mechanics. This allows us to use the rich spatial information available from scanning probes in order to diagnose criticality from the spatial structure alone, without the need of a sweep of temperature or external field. These new methods have enabled the discovery of universal, fractal electronic textures across a variety of quantum materials. [Nat. Commun. 10, 4568 (2019) ; PRL 116, 036401 (2016) ; Nat. Commun. 3, 915 (2012).] I will discuss the application of these ideas to the Mott metal-insulator transition in quantum materials, using new extensions of critical behavior as well as new tools in machine learning
