The behaviour of electrons in nanostructures such as quantum wells is of interest for the design of new electronic and electro-optic devices, and also for exploration of basic many-body physics. This thesis develops and tests improved methods for describing such electronic behaviour. The system used for this work was the parabolic quantum well (PQW), an important special system which has recently attracted much experimental and theoretical attention. We firstly report self-consistent nonlinear groundstate solutions of the Poisson equation together with the Thomas-Fermi (TF) hydrostatic equations. In contrast to most previous solutions, all the electron density profiles were inhomogeneous and continuous. We also added a von Weizsacker term with and without the exchange/exchange-correlation to the above treatment, using a novel numerical approach allowing for wider electron gases than previously possible. We also report for the first time the effects of spatially varying effective mass and dielectric function in theories of this type. To investigate infrared response of these systems, we apply new hydrodynamic theories recently proposed by Dobson. By using this type of theory, we simultaneously satisfy the Harmonic Potential Theorem (extended generalized Kohn theorem) and obtain the correct 2D plasmon dispersion, as well as obtaining the correct spacing of standing plasmons. Other inhomogeneous hydrodynamic theories do not achieve this. We also showed analytically an exact solution for a plasmon mode at the Kohn frequency in addition to one found in the Harmonic Potential Theorem. An open hydrodynamic theory was then developed based on this type of mode. Numerical application of Kohn Frequency Theorem theory was shown and the results were compared with other existing hydrodynamic theories.

In this thesis, we report the observations of optical squeezing from second harmonic generation (SHG), optical parametric oscillation (OPO) and optical parametric amplification (OPA). Demonstrations and proposals of applications involving the squeezed light and electro-optic control loops are presented. ¶ In our SHG setup, we report the observation of 2.1 dB of intensity squeezing on the second harmonic (SH) output. Investigations into the system show that the squeezing performance of a SHG system is critically affected by the pump noise and a modular theory of noise propagation is developed to describe and quantify this effect. Our experimental data has also shown that in a low-loss SHG system, intra-cavity nondegenerate OPO modes can simultaneously occur. This competition of nonlinear processes leads to the optical clamping of the SH output power and in general can degrade the SH squeezing. We model this competition and show that it imposes a limit to the observable SH squeezing. Proposals for minimizing the effect of competition are presented. ¶ In our OPO setup, we report the observation of 7.1 dB of vacuum squeezing and more than 4 dB of intensity squeezing when the OPO is operating as a parametric amplifier. We present the design criteria and discuss the limits to the observable squeezing from the OPO.We attribute the large amount of squeezing obtained in our experiment to the high escape efficiency of the OPO. The effect of phase jitter on the squeezing of the vacuum state is modeled. ¶ The quantum noise performance of an electro-optic feedforward control loop is investigated. With classical coherent inputs, we demonstrate that vacuum fluctuations introduced at the beam splitter of the control loop can be completely cancelled by an optimum amount of positive feedforward. The cancellation of vacuum fluctuations leads to the possibility of noiseless signal amplification with the feedforward loop. Comparison shows that the feedforward amplifier is superior or at least comparable in performance with other noiseless amplification schemes. When combined with an injection-locked non-planar ring Nd:YAG laser, we demonstrate that signal and power amplifications can both be noiseless and independently variable. ¶ Using squeezed inputs to the feedforward control loop, we demonstrate that information carrying squeezed states can be made robust to large downstream transmission losses via a noiseless signal amplification. We show that the combination of a squeezed vacuum meter input and a feedforward loop is a quantum nondemolition (QND) device, with the feedforward loop providing an additional improvement on the transfer of signal. In general, the use of a squeezed vacuum meter input and an electro-optic feedforward loop can provide pre- and post- enhancements to many existing QND schemes. ¶ Finally, we proposed that the quantum teleportation of a continuous-wave optical state can be achieved using a pair of phase and amplitude electro-optic feedforward loops with two orthogonal quadrature squeezed inputs. The signal transfer and quantum correlation of the teleported optical state are analysed. We show that a two dimensional diagram, similar to the QND figures of merits, can be used to quantify the performance of a teleporter.

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) and optical parametricamplifiers (OPAs) constitute a class of optical frequencyconverting devices that have many possible applications, e.g.in range finding, molecular spectroscopy and medicine. They canconvert the frequency of the incident pump field with highefficiency, and generate two waves at new frequencies that willbe continuously tuneable over a wide spectral range. Virtuallyany wavelengths within the transparency region of the nonlinearmaterial can be generated if the material can bequasi-phasematched (QPM). In addition, QPM gives thepossibility to utilise the largest nonlinear tensor element ofthe material and allows walk-off free interaction between thewaves. The aims of this thesis have been to investigate thepossibility to use QPM KTiOPO4crystals as nonlinear material in nanosecond OPOsand OPAs operating at room-temperature, and to explore theadvantages and shortcomings of these devices. The technique ofelectric field poling has been employed to implement the QPMstructure in flux grown KTiOPO4(KTP). The main conclusion is that periodically poled KTP (PPKTP)is a suitable material to use in nanosecond OPOs and OPAs. Thematerial properties that foremost make KTP into an attractivenonlinear material are: The large value of the nonlinearcoefficient d33, the high resistance to optically inducedbreakdown, the low susceptibility to grey-track formation, theinsensitivity to the photorefractive effect, the widetransparency and the low coercive field. The thesis shows that it is possible to pole large volumesof KTP with a high quality of the QPM structure. Highlyefficient nanosecond OPOs have been constructed during thisproject. Maximum conversion efficiencies have reached 45 % inthe case of a singly resonant OPO (SRO) built around a 3 mmthick PPKTP crystal. Total pulse energies for both the signal(1.72 µm) and the idler (2.8 µm) of up to 18 mJ wasreached and an average output power of 2 W was obtained forthis sample. However, up to 24 W was produced in a doublyresonant OPO operating close to degeneracy. The efficiencyreached 48 % for that case. Truly continuous and very widespectral tuning has also been demonstrated, as well as a narrowbandwidth OPO operating on one single longitudinal mode. <b>Keywords:</b>optical parametric oscillators, opticalparametric amplifiers, quasi-phasematching, KTiOPO4, nonlinear optics, frequency conversion, periodicelectric field poling, ferroelectrics, high-order secondharmonic generation, electro-optic effect.

Ferroelectric oxides are a group of advanced electronic materials with a wide variety of properties useful in applications such as memory devices, resonators and filters, infrared sensors, microelectromechanical systems, and optical waveguides and modulators. Among the oxide perovskite-structured ferroelectric thin film materials, sodium potassium niobate or Na0.5K0.5NbO3 (NKN) has recently emerged as one of the most promising materials in radio frequency (rf) and microwave applications due to high dielectric tenability and low dielectric loss. This thesis presents results on growth and structural, optical, and electrical characterization of NKN thin films. The films were deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering of a stoichiometric, high density, ceramic Na0.5K0.5NbO3 target onto single crystal LaAlO3 (LAO), Al2O3 (sapphire), SrTiO3, and Nd:YAlO3, and polycrystalline Pt80Ir20 substrates. By x-ray diffractometry, NKN films on c-axis oriented LaAlO3, SrTiO3 and Nd:YAlO3 substrates were found to grow epitaxially, whereas films on r-cut sapphire and polycrystalline Pt80Ir20 substrates were found to be preferentially (00l) oriented. The surface morphology was explored using atomic force microscopy. Optical and waveguiding properties of the Na0.5K0.5NbO3/substrate heterostructures were characterized using prism-coupling technique. Sharp and distinguishable transverse magnetic and electric propagation modes were observed for NKN thicknesses up to 2.0 μm. The extraordinary and ordinary refractive indices were calculated together with the birefringence of the NKN material. The electro-optic effect in transverse geometry was measured in transmission, where the effective linear electro-optic response was determined to reff = 28 pm/V for NKN/Al2O3 with an applied dc field up to 18 kV/cm. The ferroelectric state in NKN films on Pt80Ir20 at room temperature was indicated by a polarization loop with saturated polarization as high as 33.4 μC/cm2 at 700 kV/cm, remnant polarization of 10 μC/cm2, and coercive field of 90 kV/cm. Current-voltage characteristics of vertical Au/NKN/PtIr capacitive cells and planar Au/NKN/LAO interdigital capacitors (IDCs) showed very good insulating properties, with the leakage current density for an NKN IDC on the order of 30 nA/cm2 at 400 kV/cm. Rf dielectric spectroscopy demonstrated low loss, low frequency dispersion, and high voltage tunability. At 1 MHz, NKN/LAO showed a dissipation factor tan δ = 0.010 and a tunability of 16.5 % at 200 kV/cm. For the same structure the frequency dispersion was Δεr = 8.5 % between 1 kHz and 1 MHz. / QC 20100928

<p>Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) and optical parametricamplifiers (OPAs) constitute a class of optical frequencyconverting devices that have many possible applications, e.g.in range finding, molecular spectroscopy and medicine. They canconvert the frequency of the incident pump field with highefficiency, and generate two waves at new frequencies that willbe continuously tuneable over a wide spectral range. Virtuallyany wavelengths within the transparency region of the nonlinearmaterial can be generated if the material can bequasi-phasematched (QPM). In addition, QPM gives thepossibility to utilise the largest nonlinear tensor element ofthe material and allows walk-off free interaction between thewaves.</p><p>The aims of this thesis have been to investigate thepossibility to use QPM KTiOPO₄crystals as nonlinear material in nanosecond OPOsand OPAs operating at room-temperature, and to explore theadvantages and shortcomings of these devices. The technique ofelectric field poling has been employed to implement the QPMstructure in flux grown KTiOPO₄(KTP).</p><p>The main conclusion is that periodically poled KTP (PPKTP)is a suitable material to use in nanosecond OPOs and OPAs. Thematerial properties that foremost make KTP into an attractivenonlinear material are: The large value of the nonlinearcoefficient d₃₃, the high resistance to optically inducedbreakdown, the low susceptibility to grey-track formation, theinsensitivity to the photorefractive effect, the widetransparency and the low coercive field.</p><p>The thesis shows that it is possible to pole large volumesof KTP with a high quality of the QPM structure. Highlyefficient nanosecond OPOs have been constructed during thisproject. Maximum conversion efficiencies have reached 45 % inthe case of a singly resonant OPO (SRO) built around a 3 mmthick PPKTP crystal. Total pulse energies for both the signal(1.72 µm) and the idler (2.8 µm) of up to 18 mJ wasreached and an average output power of 2 W was obtained forthis sample. However, up to 24 W was produced in a doublyresonant OPO operating close to degeneracy. The efficiencyreached 48 % for that case. Truly continuous and very widespectral tuning has also been demonstrated, as well as a narrowbandwidth OPO operating on one single longitudinal mode.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>optical parametric oscillators, opticalparametric amplifiers, quasi-phasematching, KTiOPO₄, nonlinear optics, frequency conversion, periodicelectric field poling, ferroelectrics, high-order secondharmonic generation, electro-optic effect.</p>

Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) and KTiOPO4 (KTP) are ferroelectric crystals of considerable interest in different fields of optics and optoelectronics. Due to its large values of the nonlinear optical, electro-optic (EO), piezoelectric and acousto-optical coefficients, LiNbO3 is widely used for laser frequency conversion using the quasiphase matching (QPM) approach where the sign of nonlinearity has been periodically modulated by electric field poling (EFP). In the microwave and telecommunication field LiNbO3 is used for surface acoustic devices and integrated optical modulators. KTP and its isomorphs, on the other hand, exhibit slightly lower nonlinear coefficients but have much higher photorefractive damage thresholds, so that it is mainly used in the fabrication of QPM devices for both UV, IR and visible light generation and in high power applications. This thesis focus on different key issues: (1) accurate characterization of specific optical properties of LiNbO3, which are of interest in nonlinear and EO applications; (2) in-situ visualization and characterization of domain reversal by EFP in LiNbO3 and KTP crystals for a through understanding of the ferroelectric domain switching; (3) fabrication of periodic surface structures at sub-micron scale in LiNbO for photonic applications. An interferometric method is used for accurate measurement of ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices in uniaxial crystals, which is of great interest in the proper design of QPM crystals. A digital holography (DH) based method is presented here for 2D characterization of the EO properties of LiNbO , which is considerably interesting in the applications where the proper design of the EO device requires a spatially resolved information about the EO behaviour and the existing pointwise techniques are not sufficient. A DH method for novel in-situ monitoring of domain reversal by EFP in both LiNbO3 and KTP, is also presented here. The technqiue could be used as a tool for high fidelity periodic domain engineering but also provides information about domain kinetics, internal field and crystals defects. 3 3 3 Finally this thesis presents novel results concerning nanoscale periodic surface structuring of congruent LiNbO3. Holographic lithography (HL) is used for sub-micron period resist patterning and electric overpoling for surface domain reversal. Surface structures are obtained by selective etching. Moiré effect is also used in the HL to fabricate complicated structures with multiple periods. The depth compatibility with waveguide implementation allows foreseeing possible applications of these structures for Bragg gratings or innovative photonic crystal devices, exploiting the additional nonlinear and EO properties typical of LiNbO3. / QC 20100824

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-11-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:49:10Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 takiy_ae_me_ilha.pdf: 1702331 bytes, checksum: b89d2b4960ee7bbc0e01a3a5d3e7a2be (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Neste trabalho estuda-se a interferometria laser, a qual constitui uma técnica adequada para determinar grandezas físicas com sensibilidade extremamente elevada. Basicamente, no interferômetro óptico, a informação a respeito do dispositivo sob teste é inserida na fase da luz. Utilizando-se o fotodiodo, promove-se a transferência de informação, do domínio óptico para o elétrico, no qual pode ser demodulada usando-se as várias técnicas disponíveis na literatura para detectar sinais modulados em fase. Ênfase é dada a um novo método de demodulação de fase óptica auto-consistente e de grande sensibilidade. Neste método, utiliza- se a modulação dada por uma forma de onda triangular e é baseado na análise do espectro do sinal fotodetectado, sendo capaz de estender a faixa dinâmica de demodulação a valores tão elevados quanto às dos métodos clássicos. Simulações dinâmicas computacionais de interferômetros ópticos são executadas em Simulink juntamente com este método, levando-se em consideração tensões de ruído eletrônico do tipo ruído branco, evidenciando a eficiência do método quando comparados com dados teóricos obtidos em Matlab. A validação experimental do método é realizada com o auxílio de um modulador eletro-óptico de amplitudes, cujas características de fase podem ser previstas analiticamente. Trata-se de um sensor polarimétrico baseado em cristal de Niobato de Lítio, em que a diferença de fase óptica induzida pela tensão elétrica aplicada pode ser determinada através de análise espectral, tal como o novo método descrito neste trabalho. Um interferômetro de Michelson homódino de baixo custo é implementado e a eficiência do novo método de demodulação de fase óptica é avaliada através de testes com atuadores e manipuladores piezoelétricos flextensionais, cujas características de linearidade são conhecidas... / In this work, has been done a study the laser interferometer, which is a technique for determining physical quantities with extremely high sensitivity. Basically, in the optical interferometer, information about the device under test modulates the phase of light. Using a photodiode, promotes the transfer of information from the optical domain for the electric, which can be demodulated using the various techniques available in literature to detect modulated signals in phase. Emphasis is given to a new method of phase demodulation of optical self-consistent and high sensitivity. The method employs a linear modulation given by a triangular waveform, and is based on analysis of the spectrum of the photodetected signal, being able to extend the dynamic range of the demodulation values as high as the classical methods. Dynamic computational simulations of optical interferometers are implemented in Simulink with this method, taking into account strains of electronic noise like white noise, indicating the efficiency of the method compared with theoretical data obtained in Matlab workspace. The experimental validation of the method is performed with the aid of an electro- optic amplitude modulator, whose phase characteristics can be analytically predicted. This is a polarimetric sensor based on lithium niobate crystal, in which the optical phase difference induced by electric voltage can be determined by spectral analysis, using new method described in this work. A low cost homodyne Michelson interferometer is implemented and the efficiency of the new method of optical phase demodulation is evaluated by testing with piezoelectric flextensional actuators whose characteristics of linearity are well known.The experimental results agree with theoretical analysis and reveal this method is more efficient than the classical methods

Notre recherche porte sur la réponse optique des nanostructures et nous sommes certainement intéressés à la modélisation de ces structures afin d'améliorer le confinement de la lumière. Ce confinement est un des paramètres qui conduisent à l'exaltation des effets optique linéaires et non linéaires, simultanément. Notre travail est divisé en deux sections, qui présentent deux effets optiques diffèrents basées sur le confinement des champs à l’intérieur du structure. Dans la première section, la réponse optique d’une nano-antenne à ouverture en forme de nœud papillon (BNA : Bowtie nano-aperture) sera étudiée en fonction de l’indice de réfraction du milieu. L’étude discute la variation de la longueur d’onde de résonance ainsi que l’intensité du champ confiné au milieu du gap de la BNA en fonction de la distance qui sépare l’antenne d’un substrat placé en face. L’étude prend le cas d’une BNA gravée au bout d’une fibre optique métallisée. Une étude numérique complète a été réalisée par des simulations numériques basées sur la méthode des différences finies FDTD-3D (Finite Difference Time Domaine – Three dimension). Le code utilisé est développé au sein du département d’Optique de l’Institut FEMTO-ST. Notre modèle numérique décrits bien la géométrie de l’antenne ainsi que la pointe. De même les propriétés optiques de la couche métallique de la sonde sont bien décrites à travers un modèle de dispersion (model de Drude). Une étude expérimentale a été réalisée en plus pour une validation des résultats collecte théoriquement, l’étude a considéré le cas de deux BNA avec des paramètres géométrique différents, néanmoins les résultats obtenues se correspond fortement aux résultats obtenues numériquement. Dans la deuxième partie, l'effet électro-optique des nanostructures sera étudié. L’effet électro-optique ou effet Pockels consiste d’une variation linéaire de l'indice de réfraction d'un milieu non-linéaire en fonction d'un champ électrique extérieur. Cependant, la variation est reliée au tenseur de susceptibilité non linéaire du deuxième ordre, ainsi, cette effet ce produit seulement dans les matériaux non-centrosymétrique. Dans notre étude les nanostructures sont fabrique avec le Niobate de Lithium (LN) qui est considéré comme le plus avantageux diélectrique pour l’exaltation des effets non linéaire grâce à ces propriétés (acousto-optique, électro-optique, piézoélectrique …). L’étude est complétée numériquement garce a des simulations basées sur la FDTD en tenant compte de la polarisation du champ. Au début, une validation de l’utilisation de la FDTD pour estimer l’effet électro-optique intrinsèque du LN a été achevée, l’étude considère un milieu homogène (pas de confinement des champs dans le milieu) qui a pour indice de réfraction celle du LN. Pour des structure qui présentes un confinement du champ plusieurs approximation ont été suggère dans cette partie. En outre, nous présentons un nouveau modèle auto-cohérent dans lequel la variation de l'indice de réfraction est modifiée au cours de la simulation. Plusieurs structure ont été discutés (réflecteur de Bragg, structure à cavité et 2D cristal photonique) qui présentent des facteurs de confinement différents. Une étude comparative entre les différentes méthodes, montre que la différence entre les résultats de chaque hypothèse devient plus important proportionnellement au facteur de confinement. / Our research is concerned with the optical response of nano-structures by modeling them in order to enhance the confinement of light in these structures, which leads to the exaltation of linear and nonlinear optical effects.Our work is divided into two sections, which are based on the enhancement of the electric field inside the structure. In the first section, we study the optical properties of a Bowtie Nano-aperture, BNA, as a function of the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The study discusses the variation of the resonance wavelength and the intensity of the enhanced field in the gap of the BNA as a function of the distance from a sample placed in front of our BNA. The BNA is engraved at the apex of a metallic coated fiber tip. In this section a theoretical study was achieved using the Finite Difference Time Domain method FDTD in which we implement a Drude dispersion model to faithfully describe the optical properties of metals. In addition, a validating experimental study was achieved and a high accordance between both results is recorded.In the second section, the electro optical effect of nano-structures is studied. Electro-optical effect or Pockels effect is the variation of the refractive index of a nonlinear media as a function of an applied external electric field. The electro-optical effect is a linear variation of the media refractive index. However it is also related to the second order nonlinear susceptibility tensor, thus it becomes a nonlinear effect that only occurs in non-centrosymetric material. In our study we chose the case of a nano-structure fabricated with Lithium Niobate. Lithium Niobate is widely used in photonic applications due to its electro-optical, acousto-optical and nonlinear optical properties. We present a theoretical study of the electro-optical effects using the FDTD simulation method. We started by approving the ability to use the FDTD to calculate the refractive index variation in bulk Lithium Niobate then we suggest different approximations to estimate the refractive index variation when the light is confined inside the structure. In addition we suggest a new self-consistent method in which the variation of the refractive index is modified during the simulation. The study shows a comparison between different assumptions (used in previous research) and the self-consistent method for various structures, like Bragg reflectors, cavity structures and 2D photonic crystals. The study shows that the difference between the results of each assumption becomes greater when the optical confinement in the structure becomes more important.

Aujourd'hui, la plupart des ordinateurs sont encore basés sur des concepts développés il y a plus de 60 ans par Alan Turing et John von Neumann. Cependant, ces ordinateurs numériques ont déjà commencé à atteindre certaines limites physiques via la technologie de la microélectronique au silicium (dissipation, vitesse, limites d'intégration, consommation d'énergie). Des approches alternatives, plus puissantes, plus efficaces et moins consommatrices d'énergie, constituent depuis plusieurs années un enjeu scientifique majeur. Beaucoup de ces approches s'inspirent naturellement du cerveau humain, dont les principes opérationnels sont encore loin d'être compris. Au début des années 2000, la communauté scientifique s'est aperçue qu'une modification du réseau neuronal récurrent (RNN), plus simple et maintenant appelée Reservoir Computing (RC), est parfois plus efficace pour certaines fonctionnalités, et est un nouveau paradigme de calcul qui s'inspire du cerveau. Sa structure est assez semblable aux concepts classiques de RNN, présentant généralement trois parties: une couche d'entrée pour injecter l'information dans un système dynamique non-linéaire (Write-In), une seconde couche où l'information d'entrée est projetée dans un espace de grande dimension (appelé réservoir dynamique) et une couche de sortie à partir de laquelle les informations traitées sont extraites par une fonction dite de lecture-sortie. Dans l'approche RC, la procédure d'apprentissage est effectuée uniquement dans la couche de sortie, tandis que la couche d'entrée et la couche réservoir sont fixées de manière aléatoire, ce qui constitue l'originalité principale du RC par rapport aux méthodes RNN. Cette fonctionnalité permet d'obtenir plus d'efficacité, de rapidité, de convergence d'apprentissage, et permet une mise en œuvre expérimentale. Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objectifs d'implémenter pour la première fois le RC photoniques en utilisant des dispositifs de télécommunication. Notre mise en œuvre expérimentale est basée sur un système dynamique non linéaire à retard, qui repose sur un oscillateur électro-optique (EO) avec une modulation de phase différentielle. Cet oscillateur EO a été largement étudié dans le contexte de la cryptographie optique du chaos. La dynamique présentée par de tels systèmes est en effet exploitée pour développer des comportements complexes dans un espace de phase à dimension infinie, et des analogies avec la dynamique spatio-temporelle (tels que les réseaux neuronaux) sont également trouvés dans la littérature. De telles particularités des systèmes à retard ont conforté l'idée de remplacer le RNN traditionnel (généralement difficile à concevoir technologiquement) par une architecture à retard d'EO non linéaire. Afin d'évaluer la puissance de calcul de notre approche RC, nous avons mis en œuvre deux tests de reconnaissance de chiffres parlés (tests de classification) à partir d'une base de données standard en intelligence artificielle (TI-46 et AURORA-2), et nous avons obtenu des performances très proches de l'état de l'art tout en établissant un nouvel état de l'art en ce qui concerne la vitesse de classification. Notre approche RC photonique nous a en effet permis de traiter environ 1 million de mots par seconde, améliorant la vitesse de traitement de l'information d'un facteur supérieur à ~3. / Nowadays most of computers are still based on concepts developed more than 60 years ago by Alan Turing and John von Neumann. However, these digital computers have already begun to reach certain physical limits of their implementation via silicon microelectronics technology (dissipation, speed, integration limits, energy consumption). Alternative approaches, more powerful, more efficient and with less consume of energy, have constituted a major scientific issue for several years. Many of these approaches naturally attempt to get inspiration for the human brain, whose operating principles are still far from being understood. In this line of research, a surprising variation of recurrent neural network (RNN), simpler, and also even sometimes more efficient for features or processing cases, has appeared in the early 2000s, now known as Reservoir Computing (RC), which is currently emerging new brain-inspired computational paradigm. Its structure is quite similar to the classical RNN computing concepts, exhibiting generally three parts: an input layer to inject the information into a nonlinear dynamical system (Write-In), a second layer where the input information is projected in a space of high dimension called dynamical reservoir and an output layer from which the processed information is extracted through a so-called Read-Out function. In RC approach the learning procedure is performed in the output layer only, while the input and reservoir layer are randomly fixed, being the main originality of RC compared to the RNN methods. This feature allows to get more efficiency, rapidity and a learning convergence, as well as to provide an experimental implementation solution. This PhD thesis is dedicated to one of the first photonic RC implementation using telecommunication devices. Our experimental implementation is based on a nonlinear delayed dynamical system, which relies on an electro-optic (EO) oscillator with a differential phase modulation. This EO oscillator was extensively studied in the context of the optical chaos cryptography. Dynamics exhibited by such systems are indeed known to develop complex behaviors in an infinite dimensional phase space, and analogies with space-time dynamics (as neural network ones are a kind of) are also found in the literature. Such peculiarities of delay systems supported the idea of replacing the traditional RNN (usually difficult to design technologically) by a nonlinear EO delay architecture. In order to evaluate the computational power of our RC approach, we implement two spoken digit recognition tests (classification tests) taken from a standard databases in artificial intelligence TI-46 and AURORA-2, obtaining results very close to state-of-the-art performances and establishing state-of-the-art in classification speed. Our photonic RC approach allowed us to process around of 1 million of words per second, improving the information processing speed by a factor ~3.

La lumière est incroyable polyvalente pour mesurer toutes sortes de grandeurs physiques : température, champ électrique, déplacement et déformation, etc. Les capteurs photoniques sont des candidats prometteurs pour les développements de nouvelles générations de capteurs en raison de leurs vertus de sensibilité élevée, une grande gamme dynamique, etc. Les capteurs intégrés et ceux placés en bout de fibre sur une couche mince de niobate de lithium seront ici étudiés en explorant l’électro-optique ainsi que les pyro-électronique afin de concevoir des capteurs de champs et de capteurs de température. / Light is incredibly versatile for measuring all kinds of physical quantities :temperature, electric field (E-field), displacement and strain etc. Photonic sensors are promising candidates for the new generation of sensors developments due to their virtues of high sensitivity, large dynamic range and compact size etc. Integrated and on-fiber end photonic sensors on thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) exploring the electro-optic (EO) and pyro-electric effects are studied in this thesis in order to design E-field sensors and temperature sensors (T-sensors). These studies aim to develop sensors with high sensitivity and compact size. To achieve that aim, sensors that are made of photonic crystals (PhC) cavities are studied by sensing the measurand through the resonance wavelength interrogation method. In integrated sensor studies, intensive numerical calculations by PWE method, mode solving technique and FDTD methods are carried out for the design of high light confinement waveguiding structures on TFLN and suitable PhC configurations. Four types of waveguide (WG) structures (ridge WG, strip loaded WG, slot WG and double slot WG) are studied with a large range of geometrical parameters. Among them, slot WG yields the highest confinement factor while strip loaded WG is an easier option for realizations. Bragg grating is designed in slot WG with an ultra compact size (about 0.5µm×0.7µm ×6µm) and is employed to design PhC cavity. A moderate resonance Q of about 300 in F-P like cavity where the mirrors are made of PhC is achieved with ER of about 70% of the transmission. Theoretical minimum E-field sensitivity of this slot Bragg grating structure can be as low as 200 µV/m. On the other hand, Si3N4 strip loaded WG is designed with 2D PhC structure and a low resonance Q of about 100 is achieved. Fabrications of nano-metrical WG such as ridge WG Si3N4 strip loaded are demonstrated. However, the realization of nanometric components on LN presents a big challenge.In the on-fiber end sensor studies, guided resonance, oftentimes referred to as Fano resonance due to its asymmetric lineshape, is studied with different PhC lattice types. A Suzuki phase lattice (SPL) PhC presenting a Fano resonance at the vicinity of 1500 nm has been studied and demonstrated as temperature sensor with sensitivity of 0.77 nm/oC with a size of only 25 µm × 24 µm. In addition, guided resonances on rectangular lattice PhC have been systematically studied through band diagram calculations, 2D-FDTD and 3D- FDTD simulations.