Nanoseminar in PHYSICS

IN-PERSON EVENT - REGISTER HERE.

By Dr Guillaume F. Nataf, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Tours, France

Abstract: The ability to control electron flow using logic units like switches, diodes, and transistors has been a life changer in our society. However, achieving similar control over heat flow remains a challenge. This is due to the intrinsic nature of phonons, the primary carriers of heat, which are extremely difficult to manipulate using external fields. As a result, active heat flow management is still lacking, despite its potential to enable efficient systems for energy recovery, conversion, and transport. In this seminar, we explore various approaches that we developed to actively tune thermal conductivity in ferroelectric, ferroelastic, and multiferroic materials using an electric field. By combining experimental and theoretical methods, applied to both single crystals and polycrystalline materials, we aim to uncover the critical role of domain structures in this process.

Bio: Dr. Guillaume F. Nataf earned his M.Sc. in Physics and Nanoscience from the Grenoble Institute of Technology in 2013, followed by a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Luxembourg and Université Paris-Saclay in 2016. From 2017 to 2018, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). In 2018, he was awarded a Research Fellowship by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, which he held until 2020. In 2021, he joined CNRS as a Research Scientist at GREMAN laboratory in Tours, France. His research focuses on functional oxides, particularly ferroelectrics and ferroelastics, whose remarkable properties arise from the intricate interplay of chemical composition, crystallographic orientation, and micro/nanostructures. He has a special interest in the properties of domains and domain walls.

Hosted by Dr David Pesquera, Senior Researcher at Oxide Nanophysics group ICN2