<p>Laser-based absorption spectroscopy (AS) is a powerful technique for qualitative and quantitative studies of atoms and molecules. An important field of use of AS is the detection of species in trace concentrations, which has applications not only in physics and chemistry but also in biology and medicine, encompassing environmental monitoring, regulation of industrial processes and breath analysis. Although a large number of molecular species can successfully be detected with established AS techniques, there are some applications that require higher sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy, yet robust and compact instrumentation.</p><p>Various approaches have been made during the years to improve on the performance of AS, usually based on modulation spectrometry or external cavities. The most sensitive absorption technique of today is, however, noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS). This technique elegantly combines several approaches: external cavities (for optical path length enhancement), modulation techniques (for noise reduction) and saturation spectroscopy (for enhanced selectivity). However, due to its complexity, the technique has so far not been applied to practical trace species detection.</p><p>This thesis provides the background for an understanding of NICE-OHMS and describes the construction of a first compact NICE-OHMS spectrometer based on a narrowband fiber laser. Moreover, it gives theoretical expressions for NICE-OHMS signal lineshapes, measured in various modes of detection, which can be fitted to the experimental data and thereby facilitate the assessment of species concentration. The sensitivity of the instrumentation is demonstrated by detection of acetylene (C₂H₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the 1.5 μm region. A fractional absorption sensitivity of 3*10^-9 (integrated absorption of 5*10^-11 cm^-1), could be achieved using a cavity with a finesse of 4800 and an acquisition time of 0.7 s. This results in a detection limit for C₂H₂ of 4.5 ppt (4.5*10^-12 atm).</p><p>In addition, the thesis revives the idea of using an accurate (frequency) measurement of the free-spectral-range (FSR) of an external cavity for sensitive and calibration-free concentration assessment. A theoretical description of the expected signal lineshapes is given, and in a first experimental demonstration the FSR could be measured with a resolution of 5 Hz, resulting in a fractional absorption sensitivity of 1*10^-7, and subsequently in a detection limit for C₂H₂ of 180 ppt (12.5 s acquisition time).</p><p>The thesis, finally, also contributes to the continuously ongoing development of conventional AS and wavelength modulated AS by addressing concepts related to when the light optically saturates the transition.</p>

Laser-based absorption spectroscopy (AS) is a powerful technique for qualitative and quantitative studies of atoms and molecules. An important field of use of AS is the detection of species in trace concentrations, which has applications not only in physics and chemistry but also in biology and medicine, encompassing environmental monitoring, regulation of industrial processes and breath analysis. Although a large number of molecular species can successfully be detected with established AS techniques, there are some applications that require higher sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy, yet robust and compact instrumentation. Various approaches have been made during the years to improve on the performance of AS, usually based on modulation spectrometry or external cavities. The most sensitive absorption technique of today is, however, noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS). This technique elegantly combines several approaches: external cavities (for optical path length enhancement), modulation techniques (for noise reduction) and saturation spectroscopy (for enhanced selectivity). However, due to its complexity, the technique has so far not been applied to practical trace species detection. This thesis provides the background for an understanding of NICE-OHMS and describes the construction of a first compact NICE-OHMS spectrometer based on a narrowband fiber laser. Moreover, it gives theoretical expressions for NICE-OHMS signal lineshapes, measured in various modes of detection, which can be fitted to the experimental data and thereby facilitate the assessment of species concentration. The sensitivity of the instrumentation is demonstrated by detection of acetylene (C2H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the 1.5 μm region. A fractional absorption sensitivity of 3*10-9 (integrated absorption of 5*10-11 cm-1), could be achieved using a cavity with a finesse of 4800 and an acquisition time of 0.7 s. This results in a detection limit for C2H2 of 4.5 ppt (4.5*10-12 atm). In addition, the thesis revives the idea of using an accurate (frequency) measurement of the free-spectral-range (FSR) of an external cavity for sensitive and calibration-free concentration assessment. A theoretical description of the expected signal lineshapes is given, and in a first experimental demonstration the FSR could be measured with a resolution of 5 Hz, resulting in a fractional absorption sensitivity of 1*10-7, and subsequently in a detection limit for C2H2 of 180 ppt (12.5 s acquisition time). The thesis, finally, also contributes to the continuously ongoing development of conventional AS and wavelength modulated AS by addressing concepts related to when the light optically saturates the transition.

Dans cette thèse, nous présentons le développement d'une méthode de nanoscopie optique superrésolue en trois dimensions pour résoudre des émetteurs quantiques uniques à température cryogénique. Cette méthode, appelée microscopie à saturation d'état excité (ESSat), est une technique d'imagerie confocale à balayage basée sur la saturation optique de la raie sans phonon de l'émetteur. Elle utilise un faisceau d’illumination structurée comprenant une zone d'intensité nulle au foyer de l'objectif de microscope, avec un gradient d'intensité important autour. En imageant des molécules fluorescentes aromatiques individuelles à 2 K, nous avons atteint une résolution de 28 nm dans la direction latérale et 22 nm dans la direction axiale, avec de faibles intensités laser d'environ dix kWcm-2, soit cinq ordres de grandeur inférieures à celles utilisées à température ambiante dans les méthodes de nanoscopie basées sur la déplétion par émission stimulée. Notre technique offre une opportunité unique de super-résoudre des molécules uniques séparées par des distances nanométriques et avec des résonances optiques qui se recouvrent. De plus, la méthode fournit une détermination directe de l'orientation des dipôles moléculaires à partir des images ESSat de fluorescence. La microscopie ESSat ouvre ainsi la voie à des études approfondies des interactions cohérentes dipôle-dipôle optiques entre émetteurs quantiques individuels, qui nécessitent des distances relatives nanométriques. En particulier, cette méthode permettra d'étudier les riches signatures spatiales et fréquentielles du système couplé et de manipuler leur degré d'intrication. / In this thesis, we present the development of a cryogenic super-resolution optical nanoscopy thatcan resolve molecules at nanometric distances, called the Excited State Saturation (ESSat)Microscopy.ESSat microscopy is a scanning confocal imaging technique based on the optical saturation of thezero phonon line of a single fluorescent molecule. It uses a patterned illumination beam thatcontains a ‘zero-intensity’ region at the focus of the microscope objective with a large intensitygradient around. We achieved a sub-10 nm resolution in the lateral direction and 22 nm resolutionin the axial direction with extremely low excitation intensities of few tens of kWcm-2. Comparedto other super-resolution imaging techniques, like STED, RESOLFT, etc., our technique offers aunique opportunity to super-resolve single molecules with overlapping optical resonances and thatare much closer than the diffraction limit. In addition, it is possible to determine the orientation ofmolecular dipoles from the fluorescent ESSat images. Since coherent dipole-dipole couplinginteractions between single quantum emitters have a very high coupling efficiency at short distancemuch smaller than the diffraction limit, it is important to resolve them well below it. ESSatmicroscopy thus paves a way to disclose the rich spatial and frequential signatures of the coupledsystem and to manipulate their degree of entanglement.