We investigate the propagation of light in different conditions that lead to exotic propagation of photons and use near-resonant light-matter interactions to enhance these effects. First, we study the propagation of light in a moving highly dispersive medium, namely rubidium atoms. Based on the special relativity the speed of light changes with the speed of the medium. However, this drag effect in a non-dispersive medium is very small and thus difficult to measure. We show that the drag effect is enhanced significantly when the moving medium is highly dispersive. Thus, with this enhancement even a slow motion can be detected. Next, we employ the large nonlinear response of rubidium atoms to accentuate the formation of optical caustics. Caustics are important as nature uses caustics to concentrate the energy of waves. Moreover, caustics can be formed in many physical systems such as water waves in oceans to amplify tsunamis or generate rogue waves. The connection of our study to these giant water waves is discussed. Finally, we explore light-matter interactions in plasmonic systems. We show that photons experience a significant phase jump as they couple into and out of a plasmonic structure. This coupling phase, also known as the scattering phase shift, is generic to all scattering events. We measure this coupling phase with a triple-slit plasmonic structure. Moreover, we use the near-field enhancement of the plasmonic structure to enhance the coupling between the slits. Consequently, the photons can take non-trivial trajectories that pass through all three slits. We measure such exotic trajectories for the first time that are seemingly in violation of the superposition principle. The application of the superposition principle and the validity of Born’s rule is discussed.

In this work, we discuss a description of quantum properties of light beams produced by an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) above threshold, pumped by a 780 nm Titanium Sapphire laser, resonant with the D2 line of Rb with a noise spectrum of a coherent beam. The twin beams have wavelengths around 1560nm, in the telecommunication band. The states emitted by the OPO under study are approximately Gaussian (1), which allows us to describe them in terms of first and second order moments. As we analyze the noise spectrum of the fluctuations of each beam, the first order moments are null, which allows us to describe the state of the system in terms of a covariance matrix. We present the behavior of the noise spectrum and the correlations between the reflected pump, signal and idler beams. In addition, we applied different entanglement criteria to study the system. We present a prediction of the bipartite entanglement using Duan criterion (2). For tripartite correlations, we use the Furusawa criterion (3). We performed a study of bipartition pump and sum quadrature. As well, we applied the PPT criterion (4) for continuous variables, independently transposing each beam under study. The PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient to demonstrate entanglement between bipartitions for Gaussian states. In order to explore the behavior of the system using the steering criterion in the model developed by Reid (5), we theoretically study the criterion of inference for bipartite quadratures: between the twin beams or between one of the twin beams and the pump beam. In addition, we analyzed the inference between the three modes, through the bipartition pump mode and combination of sum quadrature of the twin beams. We develop a quantum teleportation protocol of a coherent input state, composed by the Titanium Sapphire beam whose Bell measurement is performed using the pump reflected by the OPO as an entangled state for the signal and idler beams as a first possibility to implement the protocol. Furthermore, we propose a protocol in which the signal beam assists in the process of teleportation. Thus, the fidelity of the system increases and exceeds the limit of non-cloning. We will describe the first measurements of correlations between the beams emitted by the OPO for this system. The tripartite entanglement characterization is the first step in the implementation of quantum optical protocols using a source of entangled states that is compatible with both Rubidium atomic systems and the telecommunications region, thus forming a quantum network. / Nesse trabalho apresentamos uma descrição das propriedades quânticas dos feixes de luz produzidos por um Oscilador Paramétrico Ótico (OPO) acima do limiar, bombeado por um laser de Titânio Safira com comprimento de onda de 780nm, linha D2 do Rb, com espectro de ruído de um feixe coerente. Os feixes gêmeos possuem comprimentos de onda na região de 1560 nm que compreende a janela de transmissão de fibras óticas. Os estados emitidos pelo OPO em estudo são aproximadamente gaussianos (1), o que nos permite descrevê-los em termos de momentos de primeira e segunda ordem. Como analisamos o espectro de ruído das flutuações de cada feixe, os momentos de primeira ordem são nulos, o que nos permite descrever o estado do sistema em termos de uma matriz de covariância. Apresentamos então o comportamento do espectro de ruído e das correlações entre os feixes de bombeio refletido, sinal e complementar. Ademais, aplicamos diferentes critérios de emaranhamento para estudar o sistema. Apresentamos uma previsão do emaranhamento bipartido utilizando o critério de Duan (2). Para as correlações tripartidas, utilizamos o critério de Furusawa (3). Realizamos um estudo da bipartição bombeio e quadratura soma. E, aplicamos o critério PPT para variáveis contínuas (4), transpondo independente cada feixe em estudo. O critério PPT é necessário e suficiente para demonstrar emaranhamento entre bipartições para estados gaussianos. Com o objetivo de explorar qual o comportamento do sistema frente ao critério de \"steering\" no modelo desenvolvido por Reid (5), estudamos teoricamente o critério de inferência para quadraturas bipartidas: entre os feixes gêmeos ou entre um dos feixes gêmeos e o feixe de bombeio. Finalizamos essa análise caracterizando a inferência entre os três modos, através da bipartição modo do bombeio e combinação das quadraturas soma dos feixes gêmeos. Apresentamos a formulação de um protocolo de teletransporte quântico de um estado coerente de entrada formado pelo feixe do Titânio Safira, cuja medida de Bell é realizada utilizando o bombeio refletido pelo OPO como estado emaranhado para os feixes sinal e complementar, como uma primeira possibilidade de implementar o protocolo. Também propomos um protocolo em que o feixe sinal auxilia no processo de teleportação. Dessa forma, a fidelidade do sistema aumenta e supera o limite da não clonagem. Descreveremos as primeiras medidas de correlações entre os feixes emitidos pelo OPO para esse sistema. A caracterização de emaranhamento tripartido nessa nova configuração é o primeiro passo para a implementação de protocolos de ótica quântica utilizando uma fonte de estados emaranhados que é compatível tanto com sistemas atômicos de Rubídio quanto com a região de telecomunicações, formando assim uma rede quântica de transferência e aprisionamento de informação.

Au cours des dernières années, le domaine de l'interaction lumière-matière a fait un pas de plus en avant avec l'avènement des qubits supraconducteurs couplés ultra-fortement à des guides d'ondes ouverts. Dans ce contexte, un qubit devient simultanément couplé à de nombreux modes du guide d'onde, se transformant ainsi en un objet hybride lumière-matière hautement intriqué. L'étude de nouveaux phénomènes dynamiques qui émergent de la grande complexité de ces systèmes quantiques à N-corps est l'objectif principal de cette thèse.Dans une première étape cruciale, nous abordons l'évolution dans le temps d'un tel système en utilisant une nouvelle technique numérique basée sur un développement complet du vecteur d'état en termes d'états cohérents multimodes. Inspirée par des approches semi-classiques antérieures, cette technique numériquement exacte fournit un progrès important par rapport aux méthodes de pointe qui ont été utilisées jusqu'à présent pour étudier le régime de couplage ultra-fort à N-corps. Fondamentalement, cette approche préserve également le détail de la dynamique du système complet réunissant le guide d'onde et le qubit, permettant à la fois d'effectuer la tomographie et d'extraire la diffusion multi-particule des degrés de liberté du guide d'onde.Une exploration du régime de couplage ultra-fort multi-mode utilisant cette nouvelle technique a conduit aux deux prédictions théoriques fondamentales de cette thèse. La première démontre que le rayonnement émis spontanément par un qubit excité prend la forme d'un chat de Schrödinger de lumière, un résultat étonnamment différent de l'émission de photon unique habituelle en optique quantique. La seconde prédiction concerne la diffusion de signaux cohérents de faible puissance sur un qubit, un protocole expérimental très courant en laboratoire. De façon remarquable, il est montré que la non-linéarité du qubit, transférée au guide d'onde par l'interaction ultra-forte avec la lumière, est capable de diviser les photons du faisceau entrant en plusieurs photons de plus basse énergie, conduisant à l'émergence d'un continuum basse fréquence dans le spectre de puissance, qui domine le signal hors-résonant. En étudiant la fonction de corrélation de second ordre dans le champ rayonné, il est également démontré que l'émission en couplage ultra-fort présente des signatures caractéristiques de la production de particules.Dans la dernière partie de la thèse, la fonction de corrélation de second ordre est à nouveau étudiée, mais cette fois expérimentalement, et dans le régime du couplage modéré. Bien que les mesures soient encore préliminaires, cette partie de la thèse présente un compte-rendu instructif de la théorie de la mesure du signal et permet de comprendre en détail la procédure expérimentale impliquée dans la mesure des signaux quantiques. De plus, à l'avenir, les développements expérimentaux et les outils de simulation décrits pourraient être appliqués aux signaux émis par des qubits ultra-fortement couplés, afin d'observer les signatures de production de particules révélées par la fonction de corrélation du second ordre. / In the recent years, the field of light-matter interaction has made a further stride forward with the advent of superconducting qubits ultra-strongly coupled to open waveguides. In this setting, the qubit becomes simultaneously coupled to many different modes of the waveguide, thus turning into a highly intricate light-matter object. Investigating the wealth of new dynamical phenomena that emerge from the high complexity of these engineered quantum many-body systems is the main objective of this thesis.As a first crucial step, we tackle the time-evolution of such a non-trivial system using a novel numerical technique based on an expansion of the full state vector in terms of multi-mode coherent states. Inspired by earlier semi-classical approaches, this numerically exact method provides an important advance compared to the state-of-the-art techniques that have been used so far to study the many-mode ultra-strong coupling regime. Crucially, it also keeps track of every detail of the dynamics of the complete qubit-waveguide system, allowing both to perform the tomography and to extract multi-particle scattering of the waveguide degrees of freedom.An exploration of the many-mode ultra-strong coupling regime using this new technique led to the two core theoretical predictions of this thesis. The first demonstrates that the radiation spontaneously emitted by an excited qubit takes the form of a Schrödinger cat state of light, a result strikingly different from the usual single-photon emission known from standard quantum optics. The second prediction concerns the scattering of low-power coherent signals on a qubit, a very common experimental protocol performed routinely in laboratories. Most remarkably, it is shown that the qubit non-linearity, transferred to the waveguide through the ultra-strong light-matter interaction, is able to split photons from the incoming beam into several lower-energy photons, leading to the emergence of a low-frequency continuum in the scattered power spectrum that dominates the inelastic signal. By studying the second-order correlation function of the radiated field, it is also shown that emission at ultra-strong coupling displays characteristic signatures of particle production.In the final part of the thesis, the second-order correlation function is investigated again, but this time experimentally, and in the regime of moderate coupling. Although the results are still preliminary, this part of the thesis will provide an instructive account of signal measurement theory and will allow to understanding in-depth the experimental procedure involved in measuring quantum microwave signals. Moreover, the experimental developments and microwave simulations tools described in this section could be applied in the future to signals emitted by ultra-strongly coupled qubits, in order to observe the signatures of particle production revealed by the second-order correlation function.

Ce travail porte sur l'étude de la cohérence entre champs triplets générés par interaction non linéaire d'ordre trois. Un protocole indirect, basé sur l'étude du champ issu de la somme de fréquences des champs triplets dans un cristal non linéaire a été envisagé. Une modélisation théorique en formalisme quantique de l'évolution des champs, de leur génération à leur recombinaison, a été développée, donnant lieu à une recherche exhaustive des signatures de corrélations susceptibles d'émerger de notre protocole. Les expériences menées, à savoir la génération non linéaire bi-stimulée et la recombinaison des champs ainsi générés, sont en accord avec notre modèle théorique et permettent de mettre en évidence le masquage des corrélations entre les champs dans ce régime fortement injecté, ces corrélations étant contenues dans les fluctuations quantiques, alors négligeables, des opérateurs champs. Le calcul théorique prédit une signature de corrélations fortes entre les photons triplets dans la cas d'un génération par fluorescence paramétrique, et plus faible dans le cas d'une génération mono-stimulée. / This work deals about the study of coherence between triple photon beams generated by a third order non linear interaction. A protocol, based on the study of the field arising from sum-frequency of the triplet fields in a non linear crystal, was proposed. A theoretical model, in the quantum formalism, was developed, leading to an exhaustive research of the potential signature of the correlations. All the possible schemes were studied : triple fields generation from parametric fluorescence or from stimulated interaction, and recombination of two or three of the triple fields. The experiments we led, i.e. the bi-stimulated non linear generation and the recombination of the so-born fields, agree with our theoretical model and put into light the correlations hiding in this highly stimulated regime, since these correlations lie in the quantum fluctuations of the fields operators. The theoretical calculations predicts a strong correlations signature when the fields are generated from parametric fluorescence, and a weaker one in the case of a generation mono-stimulated.

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.

Une mémoire quantique réversible permettant de stocker et relire de l'information quantique est une composante majeure dans la mise en œuvre de nombreux protocoles d'information quantique. Comme la lumière est un porteur de l'information quantique fiable sur des longues distances, et comme les atomes offrent la possibilité d'obtenir de longues durées de stockage, le recherche actuelle sur la création d'une mémoire quantique se concentre sur la transfert des fluctuations quantiques de la lumière sur des cohérences atomiques. Le travail réalisé durant cette thèse porte sur le développement d'une mémoire quantique pour la lumière comprimée, utilisant un ensemble d'atomes froids de Césium stock'es dans un piege magnéto-optique. Nos deux principaux objectifs étaient le développement d'une source de lumière non-classique, et le développement d'un milieu atomique pour le stockage de celle-ci. Tout d'abord, nous commençons par présenter la construction d'un oscillateur paramétrique optique qui utilise un cristal non-linéaire de PPKTP. Cet OPO fonctionne comme source d'états de vide comprime résonant avec la raie D2 du Césium. Nous caractérisons ces états grâce à une reconstruction par tomographie quantique, en utilisant une approche de vraisemblance maximale. Ensuite, nous examinons une nouvelle expérience qui nous permet d'utiliser comme milieu de stockage des atomes froids de Césium dans un piège magneto-optique récemment développé. Car cette expérience exige l'utilisation de nouveaux outils et techniques, nous discutons le développement de ceux-ci, et comment ils ont contribue à notre progression vers le stockage des états quantiques dans nos atomes des Césium, et finalement vers l'intrication de deux ensembles atomiques.

Die Arbeit untersucht theoretisch die Wechselwirkung neutraler Teilchen (Atome, Moleküle) mit Oberflächen, soweit sie durch das elektromagnetische Feld vermittelt wird. Spektrale Energiedichten und Kohärenzfunktionen werden hergeleitet und liefern eine umfassende Charakterisierung des Felds auf der sub-Wellenlängen-Skala. Die Ergebnisse finden auf zwei Teilgebieten Anwendung: in der integrierten Atomoptik, wo ultrakalte Atome an thermische Oberflächen koppeln, und in der Nahfeldoptik, wo eine Auflösung unterhalb der Beugungsbegrenzung mit einzelnen Molekülen als Sonden und Detektoren erzielt werden kann. / We theoretically discuss the interaction of neutral particles (atoms, molecules) with surfaces in the regime where it is mediated by the electromagnetic field. A thorough characterization of the field at sub-wavelength distances is worked out, including energy density spectra and coherence functions. The results are applied to typical situations in integrated atom optics, where ultracold atoms are coupled to a thermal surface, and to single molecule probes in near field optics, where sub-wavelength resolution can be achieved.

The primary study of this thesis is spin-nematic squeezing in a spin-1 condensate. The measurement of spin-nematic squeezing builds on the success of previous experiments of spin-mixing together with advances in low noise atom counting. The major contributions of this thesis are linking theoretical models to experimental results and the development of the intuition and tools to address the squeezed subspaces. Understanding how spin-nematic squeezing is generated and how to measure it has required a review of several theoretical models of spin-mixing as well as extending these existing models. This extension reveals that the squeezing is between quadratures of a spin moment and a nematic (quadrapole) moment in abstract subspaces of the SU(3) symmetry group of the spin-1 system. The identification of the subspaces within the SU(3) symmetry allowed the development of techniques using RF and microwave oscillating magnetic fields to manipulate the phase space in order to measure the spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-mixing from a classically meta-stable state, the phase space manipulation, and low noise atom counting form the core of the experiment to measure spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-nematic squeezing is also compared to its quantum optics analogue, two-mode squeezing generated by four-wave mixing. The other experimental study in this thesis is performing spin-dependent photo-association spectroscopy. Spin-mixing is known to depend on the difference of the strengths of the scattering channels of the atoms. Optical Feshbach resonances have been shown to be able to alter these scattering lengths but with prohibitive losses of atoms near the resonance. The possibility of using multiple nearby resonances from different scattering channels has been proposed to overcome this limitation. However there was no spectroscopy in the literature which analyzes for the different scattering channels of atoms for the same initial states. Through analysis of the initial atomic states, this thesis studies how the spin state of the atoms affects what photo-association resonances are available to the colliding atoms based on their scattering channel and how this affects the optical Feshbach resonances. From this analysis a prediction is made for the extent of alteration of spin-mixing achievable as well as the impact on the atom loss rate.

In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.

In this thesis we study the Dicke model outside the rotating wave approximation (RWA), by employing phase space techniques and the quantum trajectory theory. We present a review of the basic models of open systems in quantum optics and present an experimental proposition justifying the model to be studied. We use the phase space approach to study, among other subjects, entanglement, squeezing and fluctuations across a quantum phase transition. Three different phase space representations are used and their strengths and weaknesses compared. The quantum trajectory theory is applied to visualise the global quantum fluctuations and to learn how different measurement schemes will affect the creation of entanglement. / The University of Auckland, Department of Physics.