Les travaux de recherche effectués lors de cette thèse portent sur l’obtention de nanotubes de carbone ultracourts et leur biofonctionnalisation pour une utilisation comme biomarqueur proche infrarouge. Des dispersions de nanotubes de carbone en milieux aqueux ont été formulées à l’aide de différents tensioactifs. Un traitement chimique oxydant préalable et/ou l’application d’ultrasons aux nanotubes ont permis de réduire leur longueur de façon significative, la sélection des plus courts étant effectuée par ultracentrifugation en gradient de densité. Les différentes fractions sélectionnées à l’issu de ce processus ont été caractérisées par spectroscopie Raman et spectroscopie d’absorption ainsi que par microscopie à force atomique. Il est ainsi montré la sélection de nanotubes d’une longueur inférieure à 20 nm. Nous montrons également leur fonctionnalisation à l’aide d’anticorps monoclonaux et leur visualisation par imagerie photothermique hétérodyne. Des résultats prometteurs ont été obtenus avec la fixation spécifique de nanotubes de carbone ultracourts sur des cellules. Ces travaux ouvrent de nombreuses perspectives en bioimagerie et en particulier l’étude de la plasticité synaptique au sein de neurones vivants. / This thesis reports the achievement of ultrashort carbon nanotubes and their biofunctionalization for applications as near-infrared biomarker. Dispersions of carbon nanotubes in aqueous media have been formulated with various surfactants. Oxidizing chemical treatments combined with the application of ultrasounds allowed significant shortening of the carbon nanotubes. Sorting and selection of the shortest nanotubes was done by density gradient ultracentrifugation. The different fractions selected at the end of this process have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Selection of nanotubes of a length below 20 nm is demonstrated. We also show functionalization by antibodies and the visualization of ultrashort functionalized nanotubes by photothermal heterodyne imaging. Promising results were obtained with the specific binding of ultrashort carbon nanotubes to cells. This work open route towards bioimaging applications and in particular towards the study of the synapsis plasticity within alive neurons.

La décohérence dans les solides est un problème majeur vers la réalisation d'un processeur quantique basé sur l'utilisation de boîtes quantiques (BQs) semiconductrices comme qubits optiquement actifs. Mesurer et contrôler la cohérence optique de tels qubits s'avère donc primordial, tant d'un point de vue technologique que fondamental. Cependant, leurs tailles nanométriques, associées aux temps de vie sub-nanosecondes de leurs transitions optiques, rendent les mesures expérimentales très délicates.Ce travail de thèse propose une étude détaillée des mécanismes de déphasage et de couplage cohérent de complexes excitoniques fortement confinés dans des BQs InAs/GaAs individuelles. Pour réaliser ces mesures, j'ai développé une expérience de mélange à quatre ondes hétérodyne sensible à l'amplitude et à la phase du champ électrique émis par une BQ unique. Ce dispositif permet de mesurer le temps de vie et de cohérence d'un exciton unique, même en présence d'élargissement inhomogène. Pour augmenter l'interaction lumière-matière et l'efficacité d'extraction du signal, l'utilisation de nanostructures photoniques s'est avérée indispensable. La sensibilité optique du dispositif m'a permis d'étudier en détail les mécanismes d'interaction exciton-phonon, source importante de décohérence dans les solides, comme la formation du polaron acoustique, le couplage quadratique aux phonons acoustiques, et le déphasage induit pendant l'excitation. Par ailleurs, la réalisation de spectres bidimensionnels m'a permis de révéler le couplage cohérent entre différentes transitions excitoniques. Enfin, je présente un nouveau protocole de mélange multi-ondes permettant de contrôler la réponse cohérente d'un exciton unique que je propose d'appliquer sur une paire de BQs pour contrôler le couplage radiatif longue distance, étape fondamentale vers la réalisation d'une porte logique quantique dans les solides. / Decoherence in solids is a major issue towards the realization of a quantum processor based on semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as optically active qubits. Measuring and controlling the optical coherence of such qubits is required in their fundamental studies, paving a way for technological applications. However, their nanometer size combined to the sub-nanosecond lifetime of their optical transitions, render experimental measurements very challenging.This thesis presents a detailed study of the dephasing mechanisms and the coherent coupling of excitonic complexes strongly confined in individual InAs/GaAs QDs. To achieve these measurements, I developed an heterodyne four-wave mixing experiment sensitive to the amplitude and phase of the electric field emitted by a single QD. With this setup one can measure the lifetime and the coherence time of a single exciton, even in the presence of inhomogeneous broadening. To increase the light-matter interaction and the extraction efficiency of the signal, the use of photonic nanostructures has proved to be necessary. The optical sensitivity of the setup allowed me to study in detail the mechanisms of exciton-phonon interaction, which is an important source of decoherence in solids, like the acoustic polaron formation, the quadratic coupling to acoustic phonons, and the excitation-induced dephasing. Furthermore, by inferring two-dimensional spectra, I demonstrate coherent couplings between various exciton complexes. Finally, I highlight a new multi-wave mixing protocol to control the coherent response of a single exciton, and I propose to employ it to control long-range radiative coupling between two QDs, which is a fundamental step towards achieving a quantum logic gate in solids.

In the quest for ultrathin materials compatible with CMOS technology for all-optical signal processing applications in integrated photonics, graphene appears to be a promising candidate, with broadband1 optical properties and a high and broadband optical nonlinearity. However, researchers do not agree on the value of its nonlinear refractive index, and commonly used characterization methods do not provide a clear picture of the optical nonlinearity, in terms of its tensor nature or relaxation time. In the first part of this thesis, apart from the previously used Z-scan method, we have also used the ultrafast Optical Kerr Effect method coupled to Optical Heterodyne Detection (OHD-OKE) for the characterization of the third order optical nonlinearity of monolayer CVD graphene at telecom wavelengths. This method allows to separately measure the real and the imaginary part of the third-order nonlinearity, as well as their dynamics. With respect to the Z-scan method, OHD-OKE presents the major advantage of being robust against inhomogeneities of the sample. As such, we have demonstrated that graphene has a negative nonlinear refractive index, contrary to previously reported results. In addition, we have studied the real and imaginary part of graphene’s nonlinearity, when electrostatic gating is applied to change the chemical potential of graphene. Furthermore, we have proposed an enhanced version of the OHD-OKE method, together with the appropriate theoretical framework, in order to extract the tensor elements of the nonlinearity including the out-of-plane tensor elements. In particular, we have measured separately the time response of the two main tensor elements of the nonlinear susceptibility and we have experimentally verified that the out-of-plane tensor components are negligible. In the second part of this thesis, we have investigated, from an experimental point of view, the use of the nonlinear optical response of graphene for all-optical switching applications in integrated photonics. Namely, we have designed simple silicon nitride waveguide structures that constitute basic building blocks of switching devices, which were then fabricated and covered by graphene patches. Finally, we have experimentally tested the graphene-covered structures at low and high power levels and discussed the results. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Recent studies on growth of telecomm sector depict an ever rising demand for high bandwidth applications such as on-line gaming, high definition television and many more. This demand is coupled with increase in internet connected utilities per house hold - each requiring a portion of bandwidth. The fast development of broadband telecommunication services calls for an upgrade of access infrastructure. This challenge could be met by technologies such as Fiber-To-The-Home/Building (FTTH/B) point-to-multipoint (P2MP) optical access networking. Further, FTTH is also widely regarded as a future proof solution for broadband telecommunication services within scientific and industrial sectors. This has encouraged large amount of research and development throughout the globe to find optimal topologies for FTTH. OFDM based optical access network topology abbreviated as OTONES is an ongoing EU FP 7 project under the PIANO+ framework. The OTONES project addresses the next generation optical access networking on the basis of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDMA), with special provision for reduced complexity and signal processing aspects of the subscriber side terminals (ONUs). This thesis focuses on the theoretical investigation of OFDM based optical access network topology OTONES. The thesis provides an in depth view of the salient aspects of the topology and formulates the key requirements of OTONES topology. The investigation primarily delves on two important aspects of the topology. First, finding the optimal analog circuitry for the optical network unit (ONU). Second, finding the optimal operation regime for the topology and hence optimizing the system level concept. In this thesis, we show that the requirement of an analog circuitry originates from the need of successive up-conversions in OTONES topology which also produces image spectrum. This image spectrum causes a 3 dB loss in power and spectral efficiency in absence of a proper image rejection circuitry. Thus, we discuss the generic SSB generation methods for efficient image rejection. Novel Bedrosian method based on Bedrosian Theorem is established as a promising method for image rejection. We show that this method is an analog implementation of Hilbert Transform Method and does not involve any approximation. Both generic methods for SSB along with the Novel Bedrosian method are evaluated based on the criterion established for OTONES topology. Finally, optical filtering from the set of generic SSB method is proposed for the downstream path and Novel Bedrosian method is proposed for the upstream path. The tolerance limits for Novel Bedrosian method, are also established for its physical implementation. We further discuss the realistic implementation of various components of the OTONES topology. We also establish the optimal operation regime of the full concurrent topology based on parameters such as input optical power, pilot tone separation and many more. Finally as a key feature of the thesis, we optimize the system level concept of the topology with the use of the proposed Novel Bedrosian Method as the optimal analog circuitry for OTONES topology and provide a region of optimal operation of the topology.

In astronomy, interferometry by ground-based telescopes offers the greatest angular resolution. However, the Earth´s atmosphere distorts the incident wavefront from a celestial object, leading to blurring and signal loss. It also restricts the transmission of specific wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. Space-based interferometers would mitigate atmospheric obstruction and potentially enable even higher angular resolutions. The main challenge of implementing space-based interferometry is the necessity of matching the light´s optical path differences at the telescopes within the coherence length of the light utilizing physical delay lines. This thesis explores the potential realization of digital delay lines via heterodyne interferometry. The technique generates a heterodyne beat note at the frequency difference between the incident stellar light and a reference laser in the radio regime, permitting digitization of the delay line while preserving the phase information for image reconstruction. The primary objective of the thesis is to advance the field of astronomy by constructing a testbed environment for investigating future space-based heterodyne interferometry in the NIR light range. It requires the achievement of two main tasks. Firstly, a laboratory starlight simulator is developed to simulate a distant star´s wavefront appearance as it reaches telescopes on or around Earth. The consequent starlight simulator contains an optical assembly that manifests a point source in NIR light, aligned with a mirror collimator’s focal point, transforming the wavefront from spherical to planar. Secondly, a fiber optical circuit with interference capability is constructed, consisting of a free-space optical delay line and a polarization-controlled custom-sized fiber. The delay line matches the optical paths within the light's coherence length, while the polarization controller optimizes interference visibility. The completion of the tasks establishes the foundation to investigate space-based heterodyne interferometry in the NIR light with the potential implementation of delay line digitization.

Der weltraumgestützte Gravitationswellendetektor LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) besteht aus drei identischen Satelliten an Bord derer sich jeweils zwei frei schwebende Testmassen befinden. Die Lage der einzelnen Testmassen in Bezug auf die zugehörige optische Bank muss mit einer Genauigkeit besser 1 pm/sqrt(Hz) in der Abstands- und besser 10 nrad/sqrt(Hz) in der Winkelmessung erfolgen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein kompaktes optisches Auslesesystem präsentiert, welches als Prototyp für diese Abstands- und Winkelmetrologie dient. Das dafür entwickelte polarisierende Heterodyn-Interferometer mit räumlich getrennten Frequenzen basiert auf einem hoch-symmetrischen Design, bei dem zur optimalen Gleichtakt-Unterdrückung Mess- und Referenzarm die gleiche Polarisation und Frequenz sowie annähernd gleiche optische Pfade haben. Für die Winkelmessung wird die Methode der differentiellen Wellenfrontmessung eingesetzt. In einem ersten Prototyp-Aufbau wird ein Rauschniveau von weniger als 100 pm/sqrt(Hz) in der Translations- und von weniger als 100 nrad/sqrt(Hz) in der Winkelmessung (beides für Frequenzen oberhalb 0.1 Hz) demonstriert. In einem zweiten Prototyp-Aufbau werden zusätzlich eine Intensitätsstabilisierung und ein Phasenlock der beiden Frequenzen implementiert. Die analoge Phasenmessung ist durch eine digitale, FPGA basierte, ersetzt. Mit diesem Aufbau wird ein Rauschen kleiner 5 pm/sqrt(Hz) in der Translationsmessung und kleiner 10 nrad/sqrt(Hz) in der Winkelmessung, beides für Frequenzen größer 0.01 Hz, erreicht. Eine Rausch-Analyse wurde durchgeführt und die Nichtlinearitäten des Interferometers bestimmt. Das Interferometer wurde im Hinblick auf die LISA Mission entwickelt, findet seine Anwendung aber auch bei der Charakterisierung der dimensionalen Stabilität von ultra-stabilen Materialien sowie in der optischen Profilometrie. Die Adaptierung des Interferometers dazu sowie erste Resultate zu beiden Anwendungen werden in dieser Arbeit präsentiert. / The space-based gravitational wave detector LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) consists of three identical satellites. Each satellite accommodates two free-flying proof masses whose distance and tilt with respect to its corresponding optical bench must be measured with at least 1 pm/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity in translation and at least 10 nrad/sqrt(Hz) sensitivity in tilt measurement. In this thesis, a compact optical readout system is presented, which serves as a prototype for the LISA proof mass attitude metrology. We developed a polarizing heterodyne interferometer with spatially separated frequencies. For optimum common mode rejection, it is based on a highly symmetric design, where measurement and reference beam have the same frequency and polarization, and similar optical pathlengths. The method of differential wavefront sensing (DWS) is utilized for the tilt measurement. In a first prototype setup noise levels below 100 pm/sqrt(Hz) in translation and below 100 nrad/sqrt(Hz) in tilt measurement (both for frequencies above 0.1 Hz) are achieved. A second prototype was developed with additional intensity stabilization and phaselock of the two heterodyne frequencies. The analog phase measurement is replaced by a digital one, based on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). With this setup, noise levels below 5 pm/sqrt(Hz) in translation measurement and below 10 nrad/sqrt(Hz) in tilt measurement, both for frequencies above 0.01Hz, are demonstrated. A noise analysis was carried out and the nonlinearities of the interferometer were measured. The interferometer was developed for the LISA mission, but it also finds its application in characterizing the dimensional stability of ultra-stable materials such as carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and in optical profilometry. The adaptation of the interferometer and first results in both applications are presented in this work.

Les peignes de fréquences optiques, issus de diodes à blocage de modes, font partie des candidats potentiels pour les réseaux de transmission à multiplexage en longueurs d’onde (WDM). Cependant, les modes composant leur peigne, exhibent généralement des largeurs de raie optiques relativement élevées ( 1-100 MHz), rendant ainsi incompatible leur utilisation sur un réseau WDM employant des formats de modulation avancés d’ordre supérieur. Cette thèse étudie, une solution pour palier à cette limitation. La technique utilisée, dite d’asservissement à correction aval hétérodyne, effectue un traitement du flux lumineux en sortie du laser sans agir sur ce dernier, permettant de réduire le bruit de fréquence présent sur chacune des raies et par conséquent leur largeur de raie optique. Dans une première approche, la technique est appliquée à un laser mono-fréquence. Cela a permis d’une part de valider son fonctionnement et d’autre part d’identifier les limites intrinsèques du dispositif expérimental mis en place. Ainsi, nous démontrons que le niveau de bruit de fréquence minimum permis par notre système, correspond à un spectre optique de largeur de raie optique instantanée de 50 Hz et une largeur de raie de 1,6 kHz pour un temps d’observation de 10 ms. La technique est par la suite appliquée à une diode à blocage de modes actif. Le peigne de fréquences optiques ainsi généré, est composé de 21 modes, ayant tous une largeur de raie optique intrinsèque inférieure à 7 kHz, dont 9 modes sont sub-kHz. Pour un temps d’observation du spectre optique de 10 ms, ces modes exhibent tous une largeur de raie d’environ 37 kHz. Nous démontrons ainsi l’impact de la gigue d’impulsions sur les performances de la technique et nous soulignons l’intérêt d’une telle cohérence, pour le domaine des télécommunications optiques cohérentes (transmissions WDM cohérentes de type m-QAM avec des constellations d’ordre élevé, compatibles avec des débits multi-Tbit/s par raie). En dernier lieu, nous abordons une seconde technique consistant à pré-stabiliser la fréquence d’un laser par asservissement en boucle fermée. Elle repose sur l’utilisation d’un interféromètre à fibre déséquilibré comme référence pour réduire le bruit de fréquence d’un laser, situé particulièrement en basses fréquences. Appliquée à un laser mono-fréquence, elle a permis de réduire son bruit de fréquence technique conduisant ainsi à une nette amélioration de sa largeur de raie intégrée sur 3 ms, de 224 kHz à 37 kHz. Ce premier résultat représente un bon support vers l’exploration du potentiel des diodes à blocage de modes pour des applications métrologiques. / Optical frequency combs obtained from mode-locked laser diodes are potential candidates for WDM networks. However, their lines exhibit usually a broad optical linewidth ( 1-100 MHz). Thus their use is incompatible for high order modulation formats WDM based systems. This thesis investigates one solution to overcome this limitation. It consists of using a feed-forward heterodyne technique to reduce the frequency noise of each comb-line and consequently their optical linewidths. In a first approach, the technique is applied to a single-mode laser. This allowed us to validate its proper working and to identify the intrinsic limits of the experimental device set up. The latter analysis enabled us to reveal that the minimum achievable frequency noise level by our system, corresponds to a 50 Hz intrinsic optical linewidth spectrum and a 1,6 kHz optical linewidth based on 10 ms observation time. This technique is then applied to an actively mode-locked laser diode demonstrating, at our system output, a 21-line optical frequency comb with intrinsic optical linewidths reduced to below 7 kHz. It is worth noting that 9 among them, exhibit sub-kHz linewidths. For an observation time of 10 ms, all lines share the same optical linewidth, almost equal to 37 kHz. We thus show that the timing jitter impacts the technique performances. We also highlight the relevance of such coherence level for coherent optical communication. Lastly, we study a laser frequency pre-stabilization technique based on a locking to an unbalanced fiber interferometer. When applied to a single-mode laser, the technique showed a reduction of its technical frequency noise, thus leading to a clear improvement of its integrated optical linewidth from 224 kHz to 37 kHz for 3 ms observation time. This first result provides a good support towards the exploration of mode-locked laser diodes potential for metrological applications.

Les travaux présents dans ce mémoire concernent l'imagerie par voie optique proche infrarouge dans un milieu qui diffuse la lumiere. L'application visee est une imagerie in vivo de l'intérieur des tissus biologiques. Deux techniques expérimentales différentes, opérant en configuration de retrodiffusion, ont ete développées. Leur principe commun est la sélection temporelle de la lumière revenant de l'objet éclaire. Pour la première technique, l'amplification paramétrique optique en régime femtoseconde a permis la réalisation d'une porte temporelle de 200 femtosecondes. Les images résolues temporellement sont obtenues a la cadence vidéo, directement a deux dimensions. Le choix d'un accord de phase non colineaire de type ii permet a la fois l'optimisation de la résolution spatiale latérale et l'obtention des images résolues temporellement sur fond noir. Les performances de cette technique ont été évaluées a travers différents milieux artificiels, liquides ou solides, qui diffusent plus ou moins fortement vers l'avant. Pour la seconde technique, une diode superluminescente remplace avantageusement la source laser femtoseconde de la technique precedente. C'est alors la faible longueur de cohérence temporelle de la source lumineuse qui permet la selection temporelle du signal lumineux grâce a une mesure interferometrique. Pour cette technique, connue sous le nom de tomographie optique cohérente (oct), nous avons mis en uvre un système de détection hétérodyne en modulant la phase du faisceau signal grâce a l'effet electro-optique. Des images de tissus biologiques, acquises point par point, ont pu ainsi être réalisées : par exemple une coupe longitudinale d'un il de lapin et une image 2d, perpendiculairement a sa surface, d'un oignon.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta a geração de pulsos de microondas linearmente e não-linearmente modulados em frequência (LFM e NLFM) através da técnica fotônica de auto-heterodinagem. Ao utilizar eletrônica de baixa frequência para modular um diodo laser de feedback distribuído, a variação da portadora óptica no tempo (chirp) é observada, o que é causado predominantemente por efeito térmico. Este efeito, combinado com batimento auto-heteródino, foi capaz de produzir pulsos LFM com alto produto largura de banda-tempo (TBWP). Uma outra abordagem é necessária para geração de pulsos NLFM. Primeiro, é introduzida a técnica Espectroscopia Óptica Resolvida no Tempo para caracterização do chirp de um diodo laser. Em seguida, um estímulo de corrente em formato de função degrau é aplicado ao diodo laser para aquisição da função de transferência de seu chirp, H(s). Com a posse de H(s), uma simulação numérica foi usada para descobrir o estímulo necessário de corrente i(t) para obtenção de pulsos de microondas NLFM através da técnica de auto-heterodinagem. Os resultados experimentais coincidem com a simulação. / [en] This work reports the photonic generation of both linear and non-linear frequency modulation (LFM and NLFM) microwave pulses through a self-heterodyne scheme. By using low-frequency electronics to drive a distributed feedback laser diode, optical chirping is generated predominantly by thermal effect. Combining laser chirping and self-heterodyning, LFM pulses with high time-bandwidth product (TBWP) were achieved. A different approach is required for generation of NLFM microwave pulses. First, for characterization of the laser diode chirp, it is introduced a technique named Time- Resolved Optical Spectroscopy. Then, by using a step-shaped current stimulus, the laser chirp transfer function H(s) was obtained. With knowledge on H(s), a numerical simulation produced the suitable current stimulus i(t) needed to generate NLFM microwave pulses through self-heterodyning. Experimental results agreed with the numerical simulations.