Cette thèse concerne l'étude des propriétés linéaires des fibres optiques à bandes interdites photoniques et à coeur solide et l'utilisation de leurs caractéristiques singulières en optique non-linéaire guidée. La partie I est consacrée au calcul des bandes interdites photoniques que présente la gaine microstructurée. Nous avons mis en place un outil numérique de calcul de bandes par la méthode de décomposition en ondes planes en tenant compte de la dispersion des matériaux. Cet outil a été utilisé pour concevoir une fibre permettant la photo-inscription d'un réseau de Bragg. La méthode des perturbations stationnaires est ensuite appliquée pour déterminer les indices effectifs des modes autorisés aux grandes longueurs d'onde et identifier les modes linéairement polarisés vers lesquels ils évoluent.Dans la partie II, l'équation de Schrödinger non-linéaire généralisée est établie. Dans le cas d'une fibre effilée, il apparaît un terme supplémentaire permettant la conservation du nombre de photons. L'expression analytique usuelle du taux d'auto-décalage Raman est étendue au cas des solitons de courte durée jouant un rôle majeur dans le processus de génération de supercontinuum.La partie III est consacrée aux résultats obtenus en régime non-linéaire dans les fibres à bandes interdites photoniques à coeur solide. Nous montrons théoriquement que la forte valeur de la dispersion du troisième ordre est à l'origine de la suppression de l'auto-décalage Raman juste avant le bord de bande et sans pertes significatives. Cette suppression est ensuite utilisée pour limiter l'étendue spectrale et augmenter la stabilité tir-à-tir d'un supercontinuum. / This thesis concerns the linear properties of solid-core photonic bandgap fibers and the use of their specific properties for guided non-linear optics.Part I focuses on optical properties of the core mode whose guidance mechanism is related to the photonic bandgaps of the microstructured cladding. A numerical tool is developed for bandgap calculation using the plane wave expansion method with the dispersion taken into account. This tool was used for the design of a fiber which allows the photo-writing of a Bragg grating. Then, the stationary perturbation method is applied to the determination of the effective index of the allowed modes at long wavelengths and to the identification of linearly polarized modes towards which they evolve.In part II, the generalized non-linear Schrödinger equation is established. In the case of a tapered fiber, an extra-term appears in the equation allowing the exact conservation of the photons number. Then, the principles of the soliton red-shift and supercontinuum generation are recalled. The usual analytical expression of soliton self-frequency shift rate is extended to the case of short-duration solitons which play an important part in the dynamics of supercontinuum generation.Part III focuses on results obtained in nonlinear regime in solid-core photonic bandgap fibers. We show that the strong value of the third order dispersion term is the cause of the soliton self-frequency shift suppression near the bandgap edge without significant energy loss. Then, this suppression was used to tailor the spectral extent of the supercontinuum and to reduce pulse-to-pulse fluctuations.

Neste trabalho, é apresentada uma variação da técnica de espectroscopia por cavidade ressonante tipo ring-down CRDS (do acrônimo em inglês Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) para a obtenção simultânea do espectro de absorção de multicomponentes numa faixa espectral larga do visível. Esta nova técnica se resume no uso do espectro supercontinuum (resultante da irradiação de meios não lineares através de lasers de femtossegundo, ou simplesmente gerada por fontes compactas) como fonte de luz para iluminar a cavidade. Neste contexto são descritas as características dos módulos para a montagem de um MC-SC-CRDS (Multicomponent Supercontinuum Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy): os pares de espelhos altamente refletivos, a cavidade ressonante e o sistema de detecção. Alguns problemas relacionados à excitação de multimodos, à luz difusa, ao uso efetivo do intervalo dinâmico de detecção, à baixa resolução do instrumento em resolver linhas estreitas de absorção são situados. Apresentamos os espectros de absorção de H2O (políades 4nu, 4nu + delta ) e O2 (transições proibidas de spin b-X) simultaneamente medidos por essa técnica na faixa do visível, e uma comparação com as linhas de absorção baseadas do banco de dados HITRAN é feita para demonstrar a funcionalidade deste método. / In this work, we present a variation of the technique CRDS (Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) to obtain simultaneously a multicomponent absorption spectrum in a broad visible range. This new approach uses the Supercontinuum (SC) spectrum (resulting from irradiation of nonlinear media by femtosecond lasers, or simply generated by compact sources) as a light source to illuminate the cavity. In this context it is described the features of the modules assembling a MC-SC-CRDS (Multicomponent Supercontinuum Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy): a set of high refletivity mirrors, the resonant cavity and the detection system. Some problems related to the multimode excitation, stray light, effective use of the dynamic range of the detector, the poor resolution of the instrument to resolve narrow absorption lines are issued. We present the absorption spectra of H2O (polyads 4nu, 4nu + delta ) and O2 (spin-forbidden b-X branch) measured simultaneously by this technique in the visible range and a comparison with the absorption lines based on HITRAN database is made to demonstrate the functionality of this method.

Neste trabalho, é apresentada uma variação da técnica de espectroscopia por cavidade ressonante tipo ring-down CRDS (do acrônimo em inglês Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) para a obtenção simultânea do espectro de absorção de multicomponentes numa faixa espectral larga do visível. Esta nova técnica se resume no uso do espectro supercontinuum (resultante da irradiação de meios não lineares através de lasers de femtossegundo, ou simplesmente gerada por fontes compactas) como fonte de luz para iluminar a cavidade. Neste contexto são descritas as características dos módulos para a montagem de um MC-SC-CRDS (Multicomponent Supercontinuum Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy): os pares de espelhos altamente refletivos, a cavidade ressonante e o sistema de detecção. Alguns problemas relacionados à excitação de multimodos, à luz difusa, ao uso efetivo do intervalo dinâmico de detecção, à baixa resolução do instrumento em resolver linhas estreitas de absorção são situados. Apresentamos os espectros de absorção de H2O (políades 4nu, 4nu + delta ) e O2 (transições proibidas de spin b-X) simultaneamente medidos por essa técnica na faixa do visível, e uma comparação com as linhas de absorção baseadas do banco de dados HITRAN é feita para demonstrar a funcionalidade deste método. / In this work, we present a variation of the technique CRDS (Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) to obtain simultaneously a multicomponent absorption spectrum in a broad visible range. This new approach uses the Supercontinuum (SC) spectrum (resulting from irradiation of nonlinear media by femtosecond lasers, or simply generated by compact sources) as a light source to illuminate the cavity. In this context it is described the features of the modules assembling a MC-SC-CRDS (Multicomponent Supercontinuum Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy): a set of high refletivity mirrors, the resonant cavity and the detection system. Some problems related to the multimode excitation, stray light, effective use of the dynamic range of the detector, the poor resolution of the instrument to resolve narrow absorption lines are issued. We present the absorption spectra of H2O (polyads 4nu, 4nu + delta ) and O2 (spin-forbidden b-X branch) measured simultaneously by this technique in the visible range and a comparison with the absorption lines based on HITRAN database is made to demonstrate the functionality of this method.

In this research photonic crystal fibres were developed for the purpose of generating coherent supercontinua. Two photonic crystal fibres were fabricated with all-normal group velocity dispersion profiles, with low dispersion at pump wavelengths 800 nm and 1064 nm. Supercontinua generated using these fibres were shown to have superior stability and coherence compared with supercontinua generated in fibres with anomalous dispersion at the pump wavelength. Using a short piece of photonic crystal fibre with all-normal group velocity dispersion, pumped at 1064 nm, a self phase modulation spectrum spanning 200 nm was generated. The supercontinuum was re-compressed using linear chirp compensation to 26 fs, which was within a factor of two of the theoretical transform limit. This demonstrates the high spectral coherence, stability, and almost-linear chirp of the supercontinuum. Simulations showed that pulse compression using a supercontinuum generated in a photonic crystal fibre with anomalous dispersion at the pump wavelength would be limited by shot-to-shot fluctuations in the spectral intensity and phase, and the nonlinear chirp. Using a longer piece of all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fibre, supercontinuum is generated by self phase modulation, and optical wave breaking. A broad flat supercontinuum spanning 700 nm, centred at 1064 nm was generated. This supercontinuum was spectrally filtered, and the pulses obtained analysed in the temporal domain. Clean, stable sub-picosecond pulses were achieved, demonstrating the applicability of such a supercontinuum as part of a compact, tunable laser source. The same experiment was carried out using a photonic crystal fibre with anomalous dispersion at the pump wavelength, resulting in pulses with a large portion of energy contained in broad shoulders, and higher order modes. Interferometric coherence measurements were carried out at 800 nm using a Ti:Sapphire laser. A supercontinuum was generated in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fibre with low dispersion at 800 nm, spanning 400 nm. Supercontinuum pulses generated by consecutive laser pulses were brought together in time using an interferometer. The interference between consecutive pulses was viewed spectrally, and the interference fringes had high visibility across the whole supercontinuum bandwidth. This demonstrates high spectral coherence. A supercontinuum generated in photonic crystal fibre with anomalous dispersion at 800 nm was tested in the same way, and the interference fringes obtained had lower visibility, indicating low spectral coherence. The research presented demonstrates that photonic crystal fibres with all-normal dispersion profiles can be used to generate supercontinua with high coherence and intensity stability. This type of supercontinuum is applicable to ultra-short pulse compression, and can be spectrally filtered to create a broadband tunable ultra-short laser source.

Les fibres à cristaux photoniques sont constituées d’un réseau périodique transverse de diélectriques. En introduisant un défaut dans ce réseau, il est possible de guider la lumière par un effet de bandes interdites photoniques, dont les propriétés diffèrent fondamentalement du guidage par réflexion totale interne qui a lieu dans les fibres conventionnelles. Nous étudions en particulier les fibres à bandes interdites photoniques solides, comportant des inclusions dont l’indice de réfraction est supérieur à celui de la matrice. En insérant des trous d’air dans cette structure solide, on observe une forte diminution des pertes par confinement et par courbure. De plus, la présence de trous d’air entre les inclusions de haut indice rend possible l’accord de phase entre deux modes fondamentaux, pour la génération du 2nd ou 3ème harmonique. Il est également possible dans ces fibres de générer efficacement un supercontinuum et d’en contrôler l’étendue spectrale grâce aux propriétés de dispersion particulières. / This thesis focuses both on theoretical and experimental studies of a recent class of Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCF): the solid-core PCF which guide light thanks to a Photonic BandGap (PBG) effect. The main goal of this work is then to better understand their propagation mechanisms (in order to improve their transmission properties) as well as to explore their potentials for non linear purposes. The study of these fibers (dispersion diagrams interpretation, emphasis of a scaling law and also of a light level of bend losses restrictive for their practical uses) leads us to develop a new kind of PCF for which wave guidance is a combination of PBG effect and more common Total Internal Reflexion (TIR). These fibers, called hybrid PCF, are made here by adding air holes in the all-solid structures previously studied. Particularly, two hybrid structures are proposed and fabricated, exhibiting a huge reduction of confinement and bend losses. Finally, we show that their unique disoersive properties enable to obtain a phase index matching between two fundamental modes (one is guided by PBG and the other by TIR) for second or third harmonic generation, and to effectively generate a supercontinuum for which the spectral broadening can be controlled by the opto-geometrical properties of the structure.

Dynamics occurring on microscopic scales, such as electronic motion inside atoms and molecules, are governed by quantum mechanics. However, the Schroedinger equation is usually too complicated to solve analytically for systems other than the hydrogen atom. Even for some simple atoms such as helium, it still takes months to do a full numerical analysis. Therefore, practical problems are often solved only after simplification. The results are then compared with the experimental outcome in both the spectral and temporal domain. For accurate experimental comparison, temporal resolution on the attosecond scale is required. This had not been achieved until the first demonstration of the single attosecond pulse in 2001. After this breakthrough, "attophysics" immediately became a hot field in the physics and optics community. While the attosecond pulse has served as an irreplaceable tool in many fundamental research studies of ultrafast dynamics, the pulse generation process itself is an interesting topic in the ultrafast field. When an intense femtosecond laser is tightly focused on a gaseous target, electrons inside the neutral atoms are ripped away through tunneling ionization. Under certain circumstances, the electrons are able to reunite with the parent ions and release photon bursts lasting only tens to hundreds of attoseconds. This process repeats itself every half cycle of the driving pulse, generating a train of single attosecond pulses which lasts longer than one femtosecond. To achieve true temporal resolution on the attosecond time scale, single isolated attosecond pulses are required, meaning only one attosecond pulse can be produced per driving pulse. Up to now, there are only a few methods which have been demonstrated experimentally to generate isolated attosecond pulses. Pioneering work generated single attosecond pulse using a carrier-envelope phase-stabilized 3.3 fs laser pulse, which is out of reach for most research groups. An alternative method termed as polarization gating generated single attosecond pulses with 5 fs driving pulses, which is still difficult to achieve experimentally. Most recently, a new technique termed as Double Optical Gating (DOG) was developed in our group to allow the generation of single attosecond pulse with longer driving pulse durations. For example, isolated 150 as pulses were demonstrated with a 25 fs driving laser directly from a commercially-available Ti:Sapphire amplifier. Isolated attosecond pulses as short as 107 as have been demonstrated with the DOG scheme before this work. Here, we employ this method to shorten the pulse duration even further, demonstrating world-record isolated 67 as pulses. Optical pulses with attosecond duration are the shortest controllable process up to now and are much faster than the electron response times in any electronic devices. In consequence, it is also a challenge to characterize attosecond pulses experimentally, especially when they feature a broadband spectrum. Similar challenges have previously been met in characterizing femtosecond laser pulses, with many schemes already proposed and well-demonstrated experimentally. Similar schemes can be applied in characterizing attosecond pulses with narrow bandwidth. The limitation of these techniques is presented here, and a method recently developed to overcome those limitations is discussed. At last, several experimental advances toward the characterization of the isolated 25 as pulses, which is one atomic unit time, are discussed briefly.

No description available.

Les travaux réalisés dans ce manuscrit portent sur l'étude de la génération de supercontinuum dans des fibres transparentes dans le moyen infrarouge. Afin de générer un supercontinuum entre 3 et 5 µm, nous chercherons à comparer différentes familles de verres tels que les verres de fluorures, les verres d'oxydes de tellures et les verres de chalcogénures. Ces fibres sont pompées à l'aide de laser à fibre émettant autour de 2 µm en régime impulsionnel nanoseconde ou picoseconde. Cette longueur d'onde permet de s'approcher du zéro de dispersion chromatique de certaines fibres. Nous générons un supercontinuum jusqu'à 3800 nm dans des verres fluorés. Une connectique, dont la transmission est d'environ 75 %, est réalisée entre une fibre ZBLAN et une fibre SiO2. Une mesure des raies d'absorption du méthane est réalisée autour de 3300 nm à l'aide du supercontinuum généré dans les verres fluorés. Un supercontinuum est généré jusqu'à 2900 nm dans une fibre en oxyde de tellure. L'étendue du spectre aux grandes longueurs d'onde est limitée par l'atténuation de la fibre. Enfin, plusieurs compositions de verres de chalcogénures sont testées (As38Se62, As40S60, Ge10As22Se68). Ces fibres seront tout d'abord pompées dans leur régime de dispersion normale et nous observerons la formation de 4 sauts Raman successifs. Le gain Raman dans les verres AsSe est estimé à (1,6+/- 0,5) x 10E-11 m/W. Un compromis entre le contrôle de la dispersion chromatique et le couplage dans la fibre nous conduit à réaliser des fibres effilées dont le diamètre varie sur la longueur de la fibre. Nous obtiendrons alors un supercontinuum dans une fibre effilée en verre d'AsSe jusqu'à 2600 nm / The work reported in this thesis deals with the study of the supercontinuum generation in fibers transparent in the mid-infrared. To generate a supercontinuum between 3 and 5 µm we compare different glass families such as fluoride glasses, tellurite glasses and chalcogenide glasses. These fibers are pumped with fiber lasers emitting at 2 µm with nanosecond or picosecond pulse duration. This wavelength allows us to reach the zero dispersion wavelength of the chalcogenide tapered fibers. We report supercontinuum generation up to 3800 nm in a fluoride glass fiber. A connection with 75 % of transmission is made between a ZBLAN and a SiO2 fiber. We also measured absorption lines of the methane at 3300 nm. We report supercontinuum generation up to 2900 nm in an oxyde tellurite fiber. The supercontinuum edge at long wavelength is limited by the OH absorption of the fiber. Finally, several chalcogenide glass compositions and geometries are tested (As38Se62, As40S60, Ge10As22Se68). These fibers are pumped in their normal dispersion regime and we observe the four cascaded Raman shifts. The Raman gain coefficient in the AsSe glasses is estimated to be (1,6+/- 0,5) x 10E-11 m/W.A trade-off between the chromatic dispersion control and the coupling in the fiber leads us to use tapered fibers whose diameter varies along the length of the fiber. We report supercontinuum generation in an AsSe tapered fiber up to 2600 nm

This thesis introduces the linear and nonlinear properties of photonic crystal fibre (PCF), describes the fabrication and characterisation of different PCFs, and demonstrates their applications to supercontinuum (SC) generation and single-photon sources. The linear properties of PCF include endlessly single-mode transmission, highly controllable dispersion and birefringence. These unique properties have made PCFs the best media to demonstrate all kinds of nonlinear effects such as self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), Raman effects, four-wave mixing and modulation instability (FWM and MI), and soliton effects. The combination of these nonlinear effects has led to impressive spectral broadening known as SC generation in PCFs. The intrinsic correlation of signal and idler photons from FWM has brought PCF to the application of single-photon generation. Four projects about SC generation were demonstrated. The first was visible continuum generation in a monolithic PCF device, which gave a compact, bright (-20 dBm/nm), flat and single-mode visible continuum source extending to short wavelength at 400 nm. The second was polarised SC generation in a highly bire-fringent PCF. A well linearly polarised continuum source spanning 450-1750 nm was achieved with >99% power kept in a single linear polarisation. This polarised continuum source was then applied to tuneable visible/UV generation in a BIBO crystal. The third was residual pump peak removal for SC generation in PCFs. The fourth was to design an all-fibre dual-wavelength pumping for spectrally localised continuum generation. Two projects about photon pair generation using FWM were then demonstrated. One was an all-fibre photon pair source designed in the telecom band for quantum communication. This source achieved >50% heralding efficiency which is the highest in fibre photon pair sources reported so far. Another one was to design birefringent PCFs for naturally narrow band photon pair generation in the Si SPAD high detection efficiency range. 0.122 nm bandwidth signal photons at 596.8 nm were generated through cross polarisation phase matched FWM in a weakly birefringent PCF pumped by a picosecond Ti:Sapphire laser at 705 nm in the normal dispersion regime.

Cette thèse est dédiée à l’étude de la génération de supercontinuum (SCG) deforte puissance moyenne dans le domaine spectral entre 2 mm et 5,5 mm. Un laser à fibredopée thulium (Tm3+) opérant dans un régime simultanément déclenché et à verrouillage demodes (QML) a été développé. En régime continu ce laser a délivré 70 W et en régime QML,26Wmoyens ont été obtenus pour des taux de répétition en QS de 180 kHz ou plus. L’énergiela plus élevée contenue dans une enveloppe QS a été évaluée à 166 mJ avec 66 mJ contenuedans la sous-impulsion à verrouillage de mode la plus énergétique. L’émission du laser àfibre correspondait toujours à un facteur de qualité M2 excellent, entre 1,1 et 1,2. La SCGcouvrant la plage spectrale de 2 mm à 5,5 mm a été réalisée en implémentant différentes fibresen cascade. Des supercontinua jusqu’à environ 4 mm ont été générés dans des fibres en fluorurepuis pour la plage spectrale complémentaire entre 4 mm et 5,5 mm, des fibres en chalcogénureont été utilisées.La puissance moyenne maximale de 7,8 W a été démontrée pour un supercontinuum dans unefibre en ZBLAN. Le spectre s’étend jusqu’à 4,2 mm. Au total, 69%/43%/30%/16,5% de lapuissance totale ont été mesurés au-delà de 2,15 mm/2,65 mm/3,1 mm/3,5 mm respectivement.La fibre en InF3 a permis d’atteindre une puissance moyenne de 0,8 W et le supercontinuums’étend jusqu’à 2,95 mm.Pour les essais d’élargissement spectral complémentaire, trois fibres en chalcogénure ont étéutilisées. L’élargissement spectral a été démontré pour toutes les fibres en chalcogénure.Jusqu’à 20 mW de puissance ont été obtenus avec une fibre As2Se3. Le spectre a été étendujusqu’à 4,9 mm. / This thesis reports about the investigation of high power supercontinuum (SC)generation between 2 mm and 5.5 mm. A Q-switched mode-locked (QML) thulium (Tm3+)-doped fiber laser has been developped to pump different nonlinear fibers. The fiber laserprovided in continuous wave regime an output power of 70 W. In QML operation, 26 W havebeen obtained with Q-switched repetition rates of 180 kHz or higher. The highest energy of theQS envelopes has been 166 mJ with 66 mJ contained in the most-energetic ML pulses, whichhave been surrounded by Gaussian-like pedestals with temporal widths around 2.5 ns. On topof these pedestals, very short temporal peaks with pulse durations around 15 ps appeared. Thehighest achieved peak power of a pedestal has been 25 kW. The beam parameter product M2of the fiber laser has been measured in different operational regimes and resulted always in anexcellent value around 1.2.The highest SC output power level from a ZBLAN fiber has been 7.8 W. In total, 69%/43%/30%/16.5% of the transmitted SC output radiation could be converted beyond the wavelengthof 2.15 mm/2.65 mm/3.1 mm/3.5 mm, respectively, with the broadest output spectrum from theZBLAN fiber exceeding 4.2 mm. The InF3 fiber provided a total output power of 0.8 W withan output spectrum up to 2.95 mm.Successful broadening of the wavelength-limited SC output from the ZBLAN fibers has beenachieved with all three investigated chalcogenide fibers with as much as 20 mW of outputpower by using an arsenic selenide fiber. The output spectrum exceeded 4.9 mm.