La fatigue du seuil d’endommagement laser dans la silice fondue a été largement étudiée au cours des dernières années, car ce phénomène est directement lié à la durée de vie des matériaux optiques utilisés dans des applications laser, le plus souvent à forte puissance. En effet, dans l’UV, on observe une décroissance du seuil d’endommagement laser quand le nombre de tirs laser augmente. Ce phénomène a été attribué pour ce couple longueur d’onde-matériau à des modifications laser-induites dans le matériau. Sous irradiation laser multiple à 266 nm, en utilisant des impulsions nanosecondes de densité d’énergie constante, nous avons observé que le signal de photoluminescence est modifié jusqu’à l’endommagement. A partir de cela, nous proposons une nouvelle représentation des données expérimentales qui permet de prédire l’apparition d’un endommagement dans le matériau. Cette prédiction réalisée à partir du signal de fluorescence et non de la statistique d’endommagement utilisée jusque-là, permet une économie significative de surface de composant et du temps d’expérience. Afin d’étendre l’intérêt de l’étude à un plus grand nombre d’applications, une extension des résultats à la longueur d’onde de 355 nm est proposée. Nous proposons un modèle où l’endommagement dans la silice fondue sous irradiation multiple à 266 nm est causé par une accumulation de modifications laser-induites induisant de l’autofocalisation non-linéaire. Afin d’essayer de généraliser la méthode de diagnostic de la fatigue par fluorescence, nous avons aussi réalisé des tests préliminaires sur des cristaux optiques non-linéaires bien connus comme le LBO ou le KDP. / Fatigue effects in fused silica have been largely studied in the past years, as this phenomenon is directly linked to the lifetime of high power photonic materials. Indeed, in the UV regime, we observe a decrease of the LIDT (Laser-Induced Damage Threshold) when the number of laser shots increases and this has been attributed for this couple wavelength/material to laser-induced material modifications. Under 266 nm laser irradiation, with nanosecond pulses of constant fluence, we observed that the photoluminescence is modified until damage occurs. Based on this observation, we propose a new representation of the experimental S-on-1 breakdown data which allows predicting the occurrence of material breakdown. This prediction, based on fluorescence signal and not damage statistics (presently widely used) allows consuming fewer sample surface and saving time. To extend the interest of the study to many more applications, we propose an extension of the results at 355 nm. We suppose that damage is caused in our fused silica samples by accumulation of laser-induced modifications under multiple-pulse UV irradiation inducing catastrophic non-linear self-focusing. In order to try to extend the fatigue diagnostic method by fluorescence, we have also realized preliminary tests in well-known non-linear crystals like LBO and KDP.

Asynchronous multiplexing schemes are efficient than synchronous schemes, in a bursty traffic environment of multiple access local area network (LAN), as fixed bandwidth is not allocated among the users and there is no access delay. Fiber- Optic Code-Division Multiple Access (FO-CDMA) is one such asynchronous multiplexing scheme suitable for high speed LAN networks. While FO-CDMA offers potential benefits it also faces challenges in three diverse areas which are 1) coding algorithms and schemes 2) advanced encoding and decoding hardware and 3) network architecture. In this thesis, as a solution to the first challenge, we propose the design and construction of a new family of codes, wavelength/time multiple-pulses-per-row (W/T MPR) codes. These codes have good cardinality, spectral efficiency and minimal cross-correlation values. Performance analysis of the W/T MPR codes is carried out and found to be superior to other codes. In unipolar 1-D Optical Orthogonal Codes (OOCs) proposed by Salehi et al., the ratio of code length/code weight grows rapidly as the number of users is increased for a reasonable weight. Hence, for a given pulse width, the data rate decreases or in other words for a given data rate very narrow pulses have to be used, because of which dispersion effects will be dominant. To overcome the drawbacks of non-linear effects in large spread sequences of 1-D unipolar codes in FO-CDMA networks, several two-dimensional codes have been proposed. Wavelength-time (W/T) encoding of the two-dimensional codes is practical in FO-CDMA networks. W/T codes reported so far can be classified mainly into two types: 1) hybrid sequences, where one type of sequence is crossed with another to improve the cardinality and correlation properties and 2) matrix codes, 1-D sequences converted to 2-D codes or 2-D codes by construc- tion, to reduce the ’time’ spread of the sequences/codes. Prime-hop and eqc/prime W/T hybrid codes have been proposed where one type of sequence is crossed with another to improve the cardinality and correlation properties. Other constructions deal with conversion of 1-D sequences to 2-D codes either by using Chinese remainder theorem or folding GoLomb rulers. W/T single-pulse-per-row (W/T SPR) codes are 2-D codes constructed using algebraic method Addition Modulo Group operation. Motivation for this work: To design a family of 2-D codes which have the design choice of length of one dimension over the other, and also have better cardinality, spectral efficiency and also low cross-correlation values (thereby have low BER) than that of the reported unipolar 2-D codes. In this thesis, we describe the design principles of W/T MPR codes, for in- coherent FO-CDMA networks, which have good cardinality, spectral efficiency and minimal cross-correlation values. Another feature of the W/T MPR codes is that the aspect ratio can be varied by trade off between wavelength and temporal lengths. We lay down the necessary conditions to be satisfied by W/T MPR codes to have minimal correlation values of unity. We analytically prove the correlation results and also verify by simulation (of the codes) using Matlab software tool. We also discuss the physical implementation of the W/T MPR FO-CDMA network with optical encoding and decoding. We show analytically that when distinct 1-D OOCs of a family are used as the row vectors of a W/T MPR code, it will have off-peak autocorrelation equal to ‘1’. An expression for the upper bound on the cardinality of W/T MPR codes is derived. We also show that 1-D OOCs and W/T SPR codes are the limiting cases of W/T MPR codes. Starting with distinct 1-D OOCs, of a family, as row vectors, we propose a greedy algorithm, for the construction of W/T MPR codes and present the repre- sentations of the results. An entire W/T MPR code family, generated using greedy algorithm, is simulated for various number of interfering users. Performance analysis of the W/T MPR codes and their limiting cases is carried out for various parameter variations such as the dimensions of wavelength, time and weight of the code. We evaluate the performance in terms of BER, capacities of the networks, temporal lengths needed (to achieve a given BER). Multiple access interference (MAI) signal can be reduced, by using a bistable optical hard-limiter device in the W/T MPR code receiver, by eliminating those signal levels which exceed a certain preset level. Performance analysis of the W/T MPR codes and their limiting cases is studied for various parameter variations. For given wavelength × time dimensions, we compare various W/T codes, whose cardinalities are known, and show that W/T MPR family of codes have better cardinality and spectral efficiency than the other (reported) W/T codes. As W/T MPR codes are superior to other W/T codes in terms of cardinality, spectral efficiency, low peak cross-correlation values and at the same time have good performance, makes it a suitable coding scheme for incoherent FO-CDMA access networks.