Depuis plusieurs années, le département Temps-Fréquence de l’institut FEMTO-ST mène une étude sur le comportement des résonateurs à ondes acoustiques de volume à énergie piégée dans des cristaux à quartz à température cryogénique, typiquement proche de 4 K. Les performances en termes de coefficient de qualité mécanique relevé à ces températures, plusieurs milliards à quelques dizaines de MHz, font des cavités acoustiques en quartz de bons candidats pour des sources de fréquences cryogéniques ultrastables.Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit s’inscrivent dans la continuité de ce programme d’étude. Ils visent à consolider l’intérêt du quartz mais aussi à envisager des solutions alternatives à base de matériaux à très faibles pertes acoustiques mais non piézoélectriques pour lesquels l’excitation optique est une alternative crédible. Les présents travaux peuvent être résumés en trois parties majeures :- La première partie a été réalisée dans le but de déterminer une coupe de quartz possédant un point d’inversion sur sa caractéristique fréquence-température aux températures cryogéniques. La seule régulation de température du résonateur d’une source de fréquence ultrastable est en effet insuffisante sans l’existence d’un tel point qui doit servir de point de fonctionnement à la régulation thermique. La recherche d’une coupe compensée a nécessité une campagne préliminaire de mesure des coefficients de température des coefficients élastiques du matériau, inconnus à basses températures. Il a alors été possible, à partir de la connaissance de ces coefficients, d’identifier par le calcul puis de réaliser une coupe remplissant les conditions recherchées.- La seconde partie a pour objectif de faire la preuve de concept consistant à utiliser une cavité acoustique en quartz en cavité optique. Dans sa version de base, le résonateur à quartz à onde de volume piégée est plan-convexe (pour assurer le piégeage) et à électrodes (métalliques pour assurer l’excitation électrique !) déposées sur chacune de ses faces. Il est démontré, théoriquement et expérimentalement, qu’une telle géométrie fonctionne en cavité optique, avec son avantage de simplicité mais avec ses limites. Cette structure de base doit être mise à profit pour le couplage optomécanique abordé en troisième partie et constitue le socle de conception de dispositifs optomécaniques plus performants.- La troisième partie est consacrée à l’évaluation de la pertinence du couplage optomécanique de tels dispositifs fonctionnant à température cryogénique. Une étude portant sur la quantification théorique du couplage optomécanique que peut atteindre une telle cavité a été réalisée. / For a few years, the Time and Frequency department in FEMTO-ST Insitute has been leading research about the behavior of Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) trapped in quartz crystal at cryogenic temperatures (near 4K).The measured quality factor are around a few billions at few tens of MHz for such temperatures. Acoustical quartz cavities are therefore good candidates for ultrastable cryogenic frequency sources. The work presented here is in the natural continuation of the research cited above. They aim at strenghtening the interest for quartz crystal, but also to consider alternative solutions with non-piezoelectric material with very-low acoustical losses, for which optical excitation is an option. The following work can be summed up in three main parts:- The first part is about the determination of a quartz crystal cut for which a turnover point exists in the frequency-temperature curve in the cryogenic region. Indeed, it is not enough to barely control the temperature in an ultrastable frequency source. Such a turnover point needs to be the operation point for thermal regulation. Searching a compensated cut arose the need for a preliminary measurements campaign of thermal coefficients of elastics coefficients of the material, which were unknown at low temperature. It was then possible, based on these coefficients, to calculate and even realize a cut fulfilling the required condition.- The second part had the objective to demonstrate conceptually that using a quartz acoustical cavity as an optical cavity was feasible. In its basic scheme, a BAW quartz resonator is plano-convex (to ensure the trapping of the acoustic wave) and has electrodes (metal-made to ensure electrical excitation) deposited on each face. It has been demonstrated, both theoretically and experimentally, that such a geometry works fine as an optical cavity, with its corresponding advantages and limitations. This scheme is used for the optomechanical coupling discussed in the third part and constitutes the very base for more efficient optomechanical devices.- The third part is dedicated to the evaluation of how efficient will such devices be while functioning at cryogenic temperature. A theoretical quantification of the optomechanical coupling that these cavities might reach is also presented.

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Recently, remarkable advances have been made in the understanding of micro/nanoscale energy transport, opening new opportunities in various areas such as thermal management, data storage, and energy conversion. This dissertation focuses on thermally-sensed nanotopography using a heated silicon microcantilever and near-field thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion system. A heated microcantilever is a functionalized atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever that has a small resistive heater integrated at the free end. Besides its capability of increasing the heater temperature over 1,000 K, the resistance of a heated cantilever is a very sensitive function of temperature, suggesting that the heated cantilever can be used as a highly sensitive thermal metrology tool. The first part of the dissertation discusses the thermal characterization of the heated microcantilever for its usage as a thermal sensor in various conditions. Particularly, the use of heated cantilevers for tapping-mode topography imaging will be presented, along with the recent experimental results on the thermal interaction between the cantilever and substrate. In the second part of the dissertation, the so-called near-field TPV device is introduced. This new type of energy conversion system utilizes the significant enhancement of radiative energy transport due to photon tunneling and surface polaritons. Investigation of surface and bulk polaritons in a multilayered structure reveals that radiative properties are significantly affected by polariton excitations. The dissertation then addresses the rigorous performance analysis of the near-field TPV system and a novel design of a near-field TPV device.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate the electrical properties of various thick-film resistor pastes in a wider temperature range. The thesis mainly focuses on a change in electrical resistance depending on temperatures, which extend to the cryogenic region. To achieve this, there is an overview of the thick-film technology properties, major technological procedures, principles of resistive pastes conductivity, methods of electrical resistance measuring, possible errors in measurement and methods of their minimization. The content of this work is also familiar with the characteristics of a cryogenic station, on this foundation was proposed the measurement procedure and created thick-film circuits for this station. After measurement in the interval 10 K to 350 K, there are subsequently evaluated the data and explains the principles of the conductivity of used pastes.