Les sources de paires de photons corrélés sont des composants clés nécessaires aux réseaux de télécommunications quantiques. Réaliser directement ces sources à partir de fibres optiques permet de minimiser les pertes d'insertion. Nous proposons de concevoir une telle source à partir d'une fibre optique étirée. La fibre étirée possède un diamètre pouvant descendre à moins de 500 nm sur une longueur de quelques centimètres. Le faible diamètre de la section étirée favorise les effets non linéaires, tandis que les sections non étirées permettent de connecter avec de très faibles pertes cette fibre étirée avec les fibres des réseaux de télécommunication.Dans cette thèse, nous présentons donc une conception d’une nouvelle source de photons corrélés totalement fibrée à base de fibres standard de télécommunications (SMF28) étirées. Pour produire ces paires de photons nous utiliserons la fluorescence paramétrique due à la brisure de symétrie à la surface de la nanofibre en silice.Nous avons développé une technique de mesure par microscopie optique, qui permet de mesurer tout le profil de la fibre étirée avec une résolution nanométrique bien au-delà de la limite de diffraction.En parallèle, nous avons modélisé la susceptibilité non linéaire de surface de second ordre en prenant en compte l’aspect vectoriel de la propagation du champ optique dans une microfibre à deux ou trois couches. Dans un second temps, nous définissons les accords de phase modaux qui sont nécessaires pour l’obtention d’une forte fluorescence paramétrique. Nous dimensionnons cette nanofibre pour une bonne optimisation de l’efficacité de génération des paires. L'ensemble du processus de création de photons sera modélisé. / Sources of correlated photon pairs are key components required for quantum telecommunications networks. Implementing these sources directly with optical fibers minimizes the insertion losses. We propose to design such a source from a tapered optical fiber.The tapered fiber has a diameter lower than 500 nm over a length of a few centimeters. The small diameter of the tapered section favors the non-linear effects, while the unstretched sections make it possible to connect this tapered fiber with the fibers of the telecommunication networks with very low losses.In this thesis, we present a design of a new source, fully fibered of correlated photons based on standard telecommunications tapered fibers (SMF28). To produce these pairs of photons we will use the parametric fluorescence due to symmetry breaking at the surface of a silica nanofiber.We have developed an optical microscopy measurement technique to measure all the profile of tapered fibers with nanometer resolution far beyond the diffraction limit.In parallel, we modeled the second-order nonlinear surface susceptibility by taking into account the vector aspect of the propagation of the optical field in a two or three-layered microfiber. In a second step, we define modal phase matchings that are necessary to obtain a strong parametric fluorescence. We size this nanofiber for a good optimization of pairs generation efficiency. The entire process of photon creation will be modeled.

<p>Strong coupling between light and matter has been demonstrated both in classical</p><p>cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems and in more recent circuit-QED</p><p>experiments. This enables the generation of strong nonlinear photon-photon interactions</p><p>at the single-photon level, which is of great interest for the observation</p><p>of quantum nonlinear optical phenomena, the control of light quanta in quantum</p><p>information protocols such as quantum networking, as well as the study of</p><p>strongly correlated quantum many-body systems using light. Recently, strong</p><p>coupling has also been realized in a variety of one-dimensional (1D) waveguide-</p><p>QED experimental systems, which in turn makes them promising candidates for</p><p>quantum information processing. Compared to cavity-QED systems, there are</p><p>two new features in waveguide-QED: the existence of a continuum of states and</p><p>the restricted 1D phase space, which together bring in new physical effects, such</p><p>as the bound-state effects. This thesis consists of two parts: 1) understanding the</p><p>fundamental interaction between local quantum objects, such as two-level systems</p><p>and four-level systems, and photons confined in the waveguide; 2) exploring</p><p>its implications in quantum information processing, in particular photonic</p><p>quantum computation and quantum key distribution.</p><p>First, we demonstrate that by coupling a two-level system (TLS) or three/fourlevel</p><p>system to a 1D continuum, strongly-correlated photons can be generated</p><p>inside the waveguide. Photon-photon bound states, which decay exponentially as a function of the relative coordinates of photons, appear in multiphoton scattering</p><p>processes. As a result, photon bunching and antibunching can be observed</p><p>in the photon-photon correlation function, and nonclassical light source can be</p><p>generated on demand. In the case of an N-type four-level system, we show</p><p>that the effective photon-photon interaction mediated by the four-level system,</p><p>gives rise to a variety of nonlinear optical phenomena, including photon blockade,</p><p>photon-induced tunneling, and creation of single-photon states and photon</p><p>pairs with a high degree of spectral entanglement, all in the absence of a cavity.</p><p>However, to enable greater quantum networking potential using waveguide-</p><p>QED, it is important to study systems having more than just one TLS/qubit.</p><p>We develop a numerical Green function method to study cooperative effects in</p><p>a system of two qubits coupled to a 1D waveguide. Quantum beats emerge in</p><p>photon-photon correlations, and persist to much longer time scales because of</p><p>non-Markovian processes. In addition, this system can be used to generate a</p><p>high-degree of long-distance entanglement when one of the two qubits is driven</p><p>by an on-resonance laser, further paving the way toward waveguide-QED-based</p><p>quantum networks.</p><p>Furthermore, based on our study of light-matter interactions in waveguide-</p><p>QED, we investigate its implications in quantum information processing. First,</p><p>we study quantum key distribution using the sub-Possonian single photon source</p><p>obtained by scattering a coherent state off a two-level system. The rate for key</p><p>generation is found to be twice as large as for other sources. Second, we propose</p><p>a new scheme for scalable quantum computation using flying qubits--propagating</p><p>photons in a one-dimensional waveguide--interacting with matter qubits. Photonphoton</p><p>interactions are mediated by the coupling to a three- or four-level system,</p><p>based on which photon-photon -phase gates (Controlled-NOT) can be implemented for universal quantum computation. We show that high gate fidelity is</p><p>possible given recent dramatic experimental progress in superconducting circuits</p><p>and photonic-crystal waveguides. The proposed system can be an important</p><p>building block for future on-chip quantum networks.</p> / Dissertation

Une technique couramment employée pour développer les sources de paires de photons corrélés indispensables au domaine des télécommunications quantiques repose sur le processus non linéaire de mélange à quatre ondes, qui peut avoir lieu directement dans le cœur d’une fibre optique. Cette architecture fibrée permet de s’adapter au mieux aux besoins des réseaux de communications quantiques (en particulier en minimisant les pertes par couplage lors de la connexion de la source aux autres composants du réseau). L’utilisation d’une fibre microstructurée plutôt que d’une fibre de silice conventionnelle permet d’ajuster les propriétés de dispersion de la fibre et d’optimiser l’efficacité du processus non linéaire. Cependant, les sources fibrées usuelles, à cœur de silice, présentent une limitation majeure : leur pureté quantique est fortement dégradée par la diffusion Raman spontanée, qui survient elle aussi dans le cœur en silice de la fibre. Pour s’affranchir de ce problème, notre idée est de remplacer le cœur en silice par un cœur liquide, en utilisant une fibre microstructurée à cœur creux rempli d’un liquide non linéaire. Nos recherches nous ont ainsi conduits à faire la première démonstration expérimentale de génération de paires de photons corrélés dans une fibre à cœur liquide, et à montrer que, grâce aux propriétés Raman particulières des liquides (dont le spectre Raman se présente en général sous la forme de raies très fines), il était possible de réduire de plusieurs ordres de grandeur le niveau de diffusion Raman spontanée dans la source. Ce travail ouvre donc la voie au développement de sources de paires de photons corrélés fibrées de très haute qualité quantique. / Quantum telecommunication technologies rely on correlated photon pair sources, which are often based on the third-order nonlinear process of spontaneous four-wave mixing in silica-core photonic crystal fibres. A fibred architecture is advantageous because it minimizes the coupling losses between the optical source and the other components of quantum communication networks. Moreover, using a photonic crystal fibre rather than a conventional silica fibre offers the possibility of improving the photon generation (thanks to a small effective core area) and extending the wavelength coverage (thanks to dispersion management through the microstructuration design). However, the performances of silica-core photonic crystal fibre sources are limited in terms of quantum purity, because of the ubiquitous spontaneous Raman scattering process, which is a source of uncorrelated broadband noise photons in silica. We propose an original solution to this Raman problem by replacing the silica core by a liquid core, thanks to a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre filled with a nonlinear liquid. We actually performed the first experimental demonstration of the generation of correlated photon pairs in a liquid-core fibre, and demonstrated that, thanks to the specific Raman properties of liquids (which usually exhibit thin-line Raman spectra), it is possible to reduce the Raman noise level by several orders of magnitude. This work opens the way for the development of high quantum quality correlated photon pair fibred sources.