Ce travail se place dans le contexte des recherches sur les mémoires quantiques pour la lumière. L’information quantique est stockée dans un état de superposition atomique, dont la durée de vie détermine le temps maximum de stockage.On s’intéresse particulièrement aux matériaux capables de capturer la lumière par excitation résonnante d’une raie d’absorption, puis de conserver l’information quantique dans un état de superposition du fondamental électronique.Dans Tm3+:YAG, l’information est enregistrée dans un état de spin nucléaire. Cependant le champ magnétique qui lève la dégénérescence nucléaire entraîne les différents spins à des vitesses de précession différentes, ce qui tend à détruire l’aimantation initiale, porteuse de l’information.Une étude quantique du cristal est réalisée lors du premier chapitre de ce manuscrit. Les trois chapitres suivants traitent des différents mécanismes conduisant au déphasage des spins nucléaires. On y trouvera différente analyses théoriques qui seront confirmées par un ensemble de résultats expérimentaux, ainsi qu’une description détaillée du dispositif expérimental. Enfin le dernier chapitre, prospectif, exploite les outils développés au cours de la thèse pour préserver les cohérences optiques. Il présente quelques résultats expérimentaux prometteurs sur l’allongement du temps de vie de ces cohérences optiques. / This work takes place in the context of research about quantum memories for light. The quantum information is stored in an atomic superposition state whose lifetime sets the maximum storage time. We are particularly interested in materials which are able to hold the light by resonant excitation of an absorption line, preserving the quantum information in a superposition state of the electronicfundamental.n Tm3+:YAG the information is stored in a nuclear spin state. However, the magnetic field which lifts the nuclear degeneracy generates different precession speeds of the spins. This destroys theinitial magnetization carrier of the information.In the first chapter of this thesis, a quantum analysis of the crystal is done. The following three chapters are devoted to different mechanisms to control the nuclear spins dephasing. There it ispossible to find different theoretical analysis which will be confirmed by a series of experimental measurements, including an extended description of the set-up. Finally, the last chapter presentsthe different techniques used to preserve the optical coherence. Promising experimental measurements are presented to extend the life time of the optical coherences.

Ce travail se place dans le contexte des recherches sur les mémoires quantiques pour la lumière. L'information quantique est stockée dans un état de superposition atomique, dont la durée de vie détermine le temps maximum de stockage.On s'intéresse particulièrement aux matériaux capables de capturer la lumière par excitation résonnante d'une raie d'absorption, puis de conserver l'information quantique dans un état de superposition du fondamental électronique.Dans Tm3+:YAG, l'information est enregistrée dans un état de spin nucléaire. Cependant le champ magnétique qui lève la dégénérescence nucléaire entraîne les différents spins à des vitesses de précession différentes, ce qui tend à détruire l'aimantation initiale, porteuse de l'information.Une étude quantique du cristal est réalisée lors du premier chapitre de ce manuscrit. Les trois chapitres suivants traitent des différents mécanismes conduisant au déphasage des spins nucléaires. On y trouvera différente analyses théoriques qui seront confirmées par un ensemble de résultats expérimentaux, ainsi qu'une description détaillée du dispositif expérimental. Enfin le dernier chapitre, prospectif, exploite les outils développés au cours de la thèse pour préserver les cohérences optiques. Il présente quelques résultats expérimentaux prometteurs sur l'allongement du temps de vie de ces cohérences optiques.

We study the expansion velocity and ion temperature evolution of ultracold neutral plasmas (UNPs) of calcium atoms under the influence of a uniform magnetic field that ranges up to 200 G. In the experiments, we use a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to capture the neutral atoms and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) to take images of the plasma. We vary the magnetic field strengths and the initial electron temperatures and observe the plasma evolution in time. We compare the ion temperature evolution to the theory introduced in the paper by Pohl et. al. [Phys. Rev. A 70, 033416 (2004)]. The evolution of the gradient of expansion velocity suggests the presence of ion acoustic waves (IAWs). We speculate that our measurements showing that the ion temperature remains relatively high throughout the evolution is a biproduct of the IAW.

Nós demonstramos, pela primeira vez, o resfriamento via laser de um feixe atômico duplo. Ao se carregar um forno a 650oC com uma liga de Li179Na obtêm-se uma destilação efusiva que produz um feixe com fluxos idênticos de Li e de Na. Este feixe formado por duas espécies é desacelerado pela técnica Zeeman utilizando-se dessintonias iguais a Li = -850 MHz e Na = +150 MHz das respectivas transições atômicas 2S1/2 F = 2 2P3/2 F = 3. Em um segundo experimento, mostramos uma nova armadilha magneto-óptica bicromática, em cela de vapor. Obtivemos um incremento de ~10 vezes no número de átomos resfriados utilizando uma armadilha de Na do tipo I circundada por uma armadilha do tipo II, que não se superpõe à primeira. Isto ocorre quando temos o laser de captura a 12 MHz para o vermelho da transição 32S1/2 F = 2 32P3/2 F = 2. Em um terceiro experimento, observamos a primeira armadilha magneto-óptica para alcalinos operando na transição 2S1/2 2P1/2 (linha D1). Para o caso escolhido de átomos de sódio, obtêm-se quatro armadilhas diferentes dentro desta linha D1, contendo de 105 a 107 átomos resfriados. Para duas delas, é necessário inverter-se o sinal das polarizações circulares usuais dos lasers de resfriamento, devido aos desvios Zeeman negativos dos níveis hiperfinos inferiores / We demonstrate, for the first time, a laser cooling of a double atomic beam. By loading an oven at 650oC with a Li179Na alloy we get an effusive distillation producing a beam with equal fluxes of Li and Na. This two-species beam was laser cooled by Zeeman technique with Li = -850 MHz and Na = +150 MHz detunings from the corresponding 2S1/2 F = 2 2P3/2 F = 3 atomic transitions. In a second experiment, we show a new two-color vapor-cell magneto-optical trap. By surrounding type-I Na trap with a non-overlaping type-II trap we achieve a ~10-fold improvement in the number of cooled atoms. This is achieved when the capture laser is detuned 12 MHz to the red of the 32S1/2 F = 2 32P3/2 F = 2 transition. In a third experiment, we observe the first alkaline magneto-optical trap operating on 2S1/2 2P1/2 transition (D1 line). For the choosen sodium atoms, we have four different traps within D1 line, with 105 to 107 cooled atoms. For two of them, one has to revert the usual sign of circular polarizations of the cooling lasers, due to negative Zeeman shift of the lower hyperfine levels

Nós demonstramos, pela primeira vez, o resfriamento via laser de um feixe atômico duplo. Ao se carregar um forno a 650oC com uma liga de Li179Na obtêm-se uma destilação efusiva que produz um feixe com fluxos idênticos de Li e de Na. Este feixe formado por duas espécies é desacelerado pela técnica Zeeman utilizando-se dessintonias iguais a Li = -850 MHz e Na = +150 MHz das respectivas transições atômicas 2S1/2 F = 2 2P3/2 F = 3. Em um segundo experimento, mostramos uma nova armadilha magneto-óptica bicromática, em cela de vapor. Obtivemos um incremento de ~10 vezes no número de átomos resfriados utilizando uma armadilha de Na do tipo I circundada por uma armadilha do tipo II, que não se superpõe à primeira. Isto ocorre quando temos o laser de captura a 12 MHz para o vermelho da transição 32S1/2 F = 2 32P3/2 F = 2. Em um terceiro experimento, observamos a primeira armadilha magneto-óptica para alcalinos operando na transição 2S1/2 2P1/2 (linha D1). Para o caso escolhido de átomos de sódio, obtêm-se quatro armadilhas diferentes dentro desta linha D1, contendo de 105 a 107 átomos resfriados. Para duas delas, é necessário inverter-se o sinal das polarizações circulares usuais dos lasers de resfriamento, devido aos desvios Zeeman negativos dos níveis hiperfinos inferiores / We demonstrate, for the first time, a laser cooling of a double atomic beam. By loading an oven at 650oC with a Li179Na alloy we get an effusive distillation producing a beam with equal fluxes of Li and Na. This two-species beam was laser cooled by Zeeman technique with Li = -850 MHz and Na = +150 MHz detunings from the corresponding 2S1/2 F = 2 2P3/2 F = 3 atomic transitions. In a second experiment, we show a new two-color vapor-cell magneto-optical trap. By surrounding type-I Na trap with a non-overlaping type-II trap we achieve a ~10-fold improvement in the number of cooled atoms. This is achieved when the capture laser is detuned 12 MHz to the red of the 32S1/2 F = 2 32P3/2 F = 2 transition. In a third experiment, we observe the first alkaline magneto-optical trap operating on 2S1/2 2P1/2 transition (D1 line). For the choosen sodium atoms, we have four different traps within D1 line, with 105 to 107 cooled atoms. For two of them, one has to revert the usual sign of circular polarizations of the cooling lasers, due to negative Zeeman shift of the lower hyperfine levels