Bastien MICHON : Controlling the structural and electronic properties in transition metal oxides under extreme conditions.

Transition metal oxides host a wide range of emergent quantum phases, including unconventional superconductivity, strange metallic behavior and magnetic quantum criticality, driven by the strong coupling between lattice, charge and spin degrees of freedom. Understanding how structural distortions control these phases remains a central challenge in condensed matter physics.

In this seminar, I will present my recent work on strontium ruthenates and outline a research program aimed at elucidating the role of crystal structure in shaping their electronic phase diagrams. Particular emphasis will be placed on the use of uniaxial pressure as a symmetry-breaking tuning parameter, combined with transport, thermodynamic and spectroscopic probes, to access and control quantum instabilities such as unconventional superconductivity, van Hove singularities and quantum criticality.

I will also discuss ongoing developments at the SOLEIL Synchrotron, including Raman and infrared spectroscopies on high-Tc nickelates under extreme conditions, and introduce a key objective of my project at Laboratoire de Physique des Solides: the implementation of specific heat measurements under combined low temperature, high magnetic field and uniaxial pressure environments. This approach provides direct thermodynamic access to phase transitions and correlation effects in transition metal oxides.

By integrating structural tuning with complementary experimental probes, this work aims to establish a coherent framework for understanding correlation-driven phenomena in quantum materials and to open new routes for controlling unconventional superconductivity.