Under weak turbulence theory, we will use the random thin phase screen model and the Kolmogorov power-law spectrum to derive approximate models for the scintillation index, covariance function of irradiance fluctuations, and temporal spectrum of irradiance fluctuations for collimated beams. In addition, we will provide an expression for the quasi-frequency of a collimated beam and investigate the relationship between the quasi-frequency and the maximum width of the normalized temporal spectrum of irradiance for a collimated beam.

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Improving the knowledge of the spectral and temporal properties of plasma-based XUV lasers is an important issue for the ongoing development of these sources towards significantly higher peak power. The spectral properties of the XUV laser line actually control several physical quantities that are important for applications, such as the minimum duration that can be achieved (Fourier-transform limit). The shortest duration experimentally achieved to-date is ~1 picosecond. The demonstrated technique of seeding XUV laser plasmas with a coherent femtosecond pulse of high-order harmonic radiation opens new and promising prospects to reduce the duration to a few 100 fs, provided that the gain bandwidth can be kept large enough.XUV lasers pumped by collisional excitation of Ni-like and Ne-like ions have been developed worldwide in hot plasmas created either by fast electrical discharge, or by various types of high-power lasers. This leads to a variety of XUV laser sources with distinct output properties, but also markedly different plasma parameters (density, temperature) in the amplification zone. Hence different spectral properties are expected. The purpose of our work was then to investigate the spectral behaviour of the different types of existing collisional excitation XUV lasers, and to evaluate their potential to support amplification of pulses with duration below 1 ps in a seeded mode.The spectral characterization of plasma-based XUV lasers is challenging because the extremely narrow bandwidth (typically ∆λ/λ ~10-5) lies beyond the resolution limit of existing spectrometers in this spectral range. In our work the narrow linewidth was resolved using a wavefront-division interferometer specifically designed to measure temporal coherence, from which the spectral linewidth is inferred. We have characterized three types of collisional XUV lasers, developed in three different laboratories: transient pumping in Ni-like Mo, capillary discharge pumping in Ne-like Ar and quasi-steady state pumping in Ne-like Zn. Besides the accurate measurement of the temporal coherence of the laser in each case, we have studied the spectral behaviour when the laser is operated in the saturation regime and (in Ni-like Mo) when it is seeded with high-order harmonic radiation. We have also investigated the temporal behaviour of the Ni-like Mo transient XUV laser, using an ultrafast X-ray streak camera. Our linewidth measurements are compared with detailed numerical calculations including relevant broadening mechanisms as well as radiative transfer effects. The evolution of the spectral profile with amplification and saturation was studied for different plasma parameters, and corresponding Fourier-transform limit duration were evaluated.The shortest temporal coherence (ie the largest bandwidth) is measured for the quasi-steady state pumping XUV laser, which operates at the highest density and ionic temperature.

La caractérisation spectrale détaillée des lasers XUV générés dans des plasmas est un enjeu important des projets actuels de développement qui visent à augmenter la puissance crête de ces sources. En effet les propriétés spectrales de ces lasers conditionnent d'autres propriétés importantes, telle que la durée minimum accessible (limite de Fourier). La plus courte durée actuellement démontrée expérimentalement est de 1 picoseconde. La technique d'injection d'un plasma de laser XUV avec une impulsion femtoseconde de rayonnement harmonique d'ordre élevé offre des perspectives très prometteuses pour réduire la durée d'impulsion jusqu'à quelques 100 femtosecondes, pourvu que l'on sache maintenir une bande spectrale de gain suffisamment large.Les lasers XUV pompés par excitation collisionnelle dans des ions néonoïdes et nickeloïdes ont été développés dans des plasmas chauds créés aussi bien par décharge électrique rapide que par différents types de lasers de puissance. On a ainsi accès à une large variété de sources lasers XUV, qui diffèrent par les caractéristiques du faisceau émis, mais aussi par les paramètres du plasma (densité, température) dans la zone de gain. On peut donc s'attendre à des propriétés spectrales différentes. Le but du travail que nous présentons est d'étudier les propriétés spectrales des différents types de lasers XUV collisionnels existants, et d'évaluer leur capacité à amplifier des impulsions de durée inférieure à 1 picoseconde, dans un mode injecté.La caractérisation spectrale des lasers XUV est expérimentalement difficile parce que la résolution spectrale nécessaire (∆λ/λ ~10-5) n'est pas accessible avec les meilleurs spectromètres actuels. Dans notre étude, nous avons atteint cette résolution en mesurant la cohérence temporelle de la source à l'aide d'un interféromètre à division de front d'onde, spécifiquement conçu pour ces mesures, à partir desquelles largeur spectrale peut être déduite.Nous avons caractérisé trois types de lasers XUV collisionnels, développés dans trois laboratoires différents: pompage transitoire dans le molybdène nickeloïde, pompage par décharge électrique dans l'argon néonoïde et pompage quasi-stationnaire dans le zinc néonoïde. Dans chaque cas la cohérence temporelle a été mesurée précisément. De plus nous avons étudié l'effet de la saturation de l'amplification et (pour le Ni-like Mo) l'influence du mode injecté. Nous avons également étudié le comportement temporel du laser transitoire Ni-like Mo à l'aide d'une caméra streak X ultra-rapide. Nos mesures spectrales sont comparées à des résultats de simulations numériques prenant en compte les différents mécanismes d'élargissement ainsi que les effets de transfert radiatif. Nous avons étudié l'évolution du profil spectral avec l'amplification et la saturation, et nous avons évalué les limites de Fourier correspondantes.Le temps de cohérence le plus court (ie la largeur spectrale la plus grande) est mesuré pour le laser XUV quasi-stationnaire, qui correspond au plasma qui a la plus forte densité et la plus forte température ionique. / Improving the knowledge of the spectral and temporal properties of plasma-based XUV lasers is an important issue for the ongoing development of these sources towards significantly higher peak power. The spectral properties of the XUV laser line actually control several physical quantities that are important for applications, such as the minimum duration that can be achieved (Fourier-transform limit). The shortest duration experimentally achieved to-date is ~1 picosecond. The demonstrated technique of seeding XUV laser plasmas with a coherent femtosecond pulse of high-order harmonic radiation opens new and promising prospects to reduce the duration to a few 100 fs, provided that the gain bandwidth can be kept large enough.XUV lasers pumped by collisional excitation of Ni-like and Ne-like ions have been developed worldwide in hot plasmas created either by fast electrical discharge, or by various types of high-power lasers. This leads to a variety of XUV laser sources with distinct output properties, but also markedly different plasma parameters (density, temperature) in the amplification zone. Hence different spectral properties are expected. The purpose of our work was then to investigate the spectral behaviour of the different types of existing collisional excitation XUV lasers, and to evaluate their potential to support amplification of pulses with duration below 1 ps in a seeded mode.The spectral characterization of plasma-based XUV lasers is challenging because the extremely narrow bandwidth (typically ∆λ/λ ~10-5) lies beyond the resolution limit of existing spectrometers in this spectral range. In our work the narrow linewidth was resolved using a wavefront-division interferometer specifically designed to measure temporal coherence, from which the spectral linewidth is inferred. We have characterized three types of collisional XUV lasers, developed in three different laboratories: transient pumping in Ni-like Mo, capillary discharge pumping in Ne-like Ar and quasi-steady state pumping in Ne-like Zn. Besides the accurate measurement of the temporal coherence of the laser in each case, we have studied the spectral behaviour when the laser is operated in the saturation regime and (in Ni-like Mo) when it is seeded with high-order harmonic radiation. We have also investigated the temporal behaviour of the Ni-like Mo transient XUV laser, using an ultrafast X-ray streak camera. Our linewidth measurements are compared with detailed numerical calculations including relevant broadening mechanisms as well as radiative transfer effects. The evolution of the spectral profile with amplification and saturation was studied for different plasma parameters, and corresponding Fourier-transform limit duration were evaluated.The shortest temporal coherence (ie the largest bandwidth) is measured for the quasi-steady state pumping XUV laser, which operates at the highest density and ionic temperature.

Doppler radar wind profilers are already widely used to measure atmospheric winds throughout the free troposphere and stratosphere. Several methods have been developed to quantify atmospheric turbulence with such radars, but to date they have remained largely un-tested; this thesis presents the first comprehensive validation of one such method. Conventional in-situ measurements of turbulence have been concentrated in the surface layer, with some aircraft and balloon platforms measuring at higher altitudes on a case study basis. Radars offer the opportunity to measure turbulence near continuously, and at a range of altitudes, to provide the first long term observations of atmospheric turbulence above the surface layer. Two radars were used in this study, a Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar, at Capel Dewi, West Wales, and the Facility for Ground Based Atmospheric Measurements (FGAM) mobile boundary layer profiler. In-situ measurements were made using aircraft and tethered-balloon borne turbulence probes. The spectral width method was chosen for detailed testing, which uses the width of a radar's Doppler spectrum as a measure of atmospheric velocity variance. Broader Doppler spectra indicate stronger turbulence. To obtain Gaussian Doppler spectra (a requirement of the spectral width method), combination of between five and seven consecutive spectra was required. Individual MST spectra were particularly non-Gaussian, because of the sparse nature of turbulence at its observation altitudes. The width of Gaussian fits to the Doppler spectrum were compared to those from the `raw' spectrum, to ensure that non-atmospheric signals were not measured. Corrections for non-turbulent broadening, such as beam broadening, and signal processing, were investigated. Shear broadening was found to be small, and the errors in its calculation large, so no corrections for wind shear were applied. Beam broadening was found to be the dominant broadening contribution, and also contributed the largest uncertainty to spectral widths. Corrected spectral widths were found to correlate with aircraft measurements for both radars. Observing spectral widths over time periods of 40 and 60 minutes for the boundary layer profiler and MST radar respectively, gave the best measure of turbulence intensity and variability. Median spectral widths gave the best average over that period, with two-sigma limits (where sigma is the standard deviation of spectral widths) giving the best representation of the variability in turbulence. Turbulent kinetic energies were derived from spectral widths; typical boundary layer values were 0.13 m 2.s (-2) with a two-sigma range of 0.04-0.25 m 2.s (-2), and peaked at 0.21 m 2.s (-2) with a two-sigma range of 0.08-0.61 m 2.s (-2). Turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates were also calculated from spectral widths, requiring radiosonde measurements of atmospheric stability. Dissipation rates compared well width aircraft measurements, reaching peaks of 1x10 (-3) m 2.s (-3) within 200 m of the ground, and decreasing to 1-2x10 (-5) m 2.s (-3) near the boundary layer capping inversion. Typical boundary layer values were between 1-3x10 (-4) m 2.s (-3). Those values are in close agreement with dissipation rates from previous studies.

Un CRIGF (pour Cavity Resonator Integrated Grating Filter) est un filtre spectral nanophotonique présentant une bande passante étroite (inférieure au nanomètre) fonctionnant avec un faisceau relativement focalisé. Cette structure, introduite récemment (2010), est composée d'un réseau à résonance de mode guidé (ou réseau résonnant, ou encore réseau coupleur) inséré entre deux réseaux de Bragg. Les réseaux à résonance de mode guidé sont connus pour présenter dans leur spectre en réflexion (ou transmission) des pics très étroits, dus à l'excitation, via un ordre de diffraction, d'un mode guidé de la structure. Ce phénomène de résonance correspond à une anomalie de Wood. Mais leur majeure limitation reste leur très faible tolérance angulaire, et le CRIGF permet de lever ce problème.Dans la littérature, numériquement le CRIGF a été modélisée par la FDTD seulement avec d’importants temps de calculs. Nous avons utilisé la RCWA pour modéliser numériquement le CRIGF en apportant une possibilité de recherche des modes propres. Nous avons surtout montré grâce aux calculs que le comportement angulaire extraordinaire du CRIGF est très différent de celui des réseaux infinis. Nous avons prouvé grâce à la théorie des modes couplés étendue à quatre modes que cette large tolérance angulaire est due à l'existence d'un couplage additionnel qui n’existait pas dans les réseaux infinis. Grâce à une approche basée sur la cavité de Fabry-Pérot, nous avons confirmé que le CRIGF se comporte comme une cavité de Fabry-Pérot à pertes, ce qui nous a permis de définir des règles de conception simples comme le contrôle de la largeur spectrale et le repositionnement de la longueur d’onde de centrage / A CRIGF (Cavity Resonator Integrated Grating Filter) is a nanophotonic spectral filter with a narrow bandwidth (less than a nanometer) using a relatively focused beam. This structure, introduced recently (2010), is composed of a guided mode resonance grating filter (or resonant grating, or coupler grating) inserted between two Bragg gratings. Guided mode resonance gratings are known to exhibit very narrow peaks in their reflection spectrum (or transmission), due to the excitation of one guided mode of the structure via one diffraction order. This resonance phenomenon corresponds to an anomaly of Wood. But their major limitation remains their very low angular tolerance, and the CRIGF allows to overpass this problem.In literature, the numerical modeling of CRIGF was done only by FDTD with an important calculations time. We have used RCWA to model numerically the CRIGF by bringing a possibility of research of the eigen-modes. We have mainly shown thanks to calculations the extraordinary angular behavior of the CRIGF is very different from that of infinite gratings. We have proved thanks to the coupled modes theory extended to four modes that this large angular tolerance is due to an additional coupling that did not occur in infinite gratings.With an approach based on the Fabry-Perot cavity, we confirmed that the CRIGF behaves as a lossy Fabry-Perot cavity, which allowed us to define simple design rules such as the control of the spectral width and tuning the centering wavelength.