Thermokarst is a typical process that indicates widespread permafrost degradation in yedoma landscapes. The Lena-Aldan interfluvial area in Central Yakutia in eastern Siberia is now facing extensive landscape changes with surface subsidence due to thermokarst development during the past few decades. To clarify the spatial extent and rate of subsidence, multiple spatial datasets, including GIS and remote sensing observations, were used to analyze the Churapcha rural locality, which has a typical yedoma landscape in Central Yakutia. Land cover classification maps for 1945 and 2009 provide basic information on anthropogenic disturbance to the natural landscape of boreal forest and dry grassland. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) with ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data revealed activated surface subsidence of 2 cm/yr in the disturbed area, comprising mainly abandoned agricultural fields. Remote sensing with an unmanned aerial system also provided high-resolution information on polygonal relief formed by thermokarst development at a disused airfield where InSAR analysis exhibited extensive subsidence. It is worth noting that some historically deforested areas have likely recovered to the original landscape without further thermokarst development. Spatial information on historical land-use change is helpful because most areas with thermokarst development correspond to locations where land was used by humans in the past. Going forward, the integrated analysis of geospatial information will be essential for assessing permafrost degradation.

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During the past decades, femtosecond laser micro-fabrication has gained growing interests owing to its several unique features including direct and maskless fabrication, flexible choice of materials and geometries, and truly three-dimensional fabrication. Moreover, fiber-optic sensors have demonstrated distinct advantages over traditional electrical sensors such as the immunity to electromagnetic interference, miniature footprint, robust performance, and high sensitivity. Therefore, the marriage between femtosecond laser micro-fabrication and optical fibers have enabled and will continue to offer vast opportunities to create novel structures for sensing applications. This dissertation focuses on design, fabrication and characterization of optical-fiber based interferometric devices for sensing applications. Three novel devices have been proposed and realized, including point-damage-based Fiber Bragg gratings in single-crystal sapphire fibers, all-sapphire fiber-tip Fabry-Pérot cavity, and in-fiber Whispering-Gallery mode resonator / Doctor of Philosophy / Optical fibers are an optical platform with cylindrical symmetry with overall diameter typically within 50 to 500 μm. The miniature footprint and large aspect ratio make it attractive in sensing applications, where intrusion, flexibility, robustness and small size are key design parameters. Beyond that, fiber-optic sensors also possess distinct operational advantages over traditional electrical sensors such as high sensitivity, immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI), and fully distributed deployment. Owing to the above advances, fiber-optic sensors have been one of the key technologies in the broader sensing field for the past decades. However, the unique cylindrical shape of optical fiber makes it naturally less compatible to those well-developed fabrication technologies in the current sophisticated semiconductor industry. During the past decades, the possibility of three-dimensional (3D) writing inside transparent materials with tightly focused ultrafast laser pulses has attracted attention widely among the academy as well as the industry. Therefore, the marriage between ultrafast laser micro-fabrication and optical fibers have enabled and will continue to offer vast opportunities to create novel structures for sensing applications. This dissertation focuses on design, fabrication and characterization of optical-fiber based interferometric devices for sensing applications. Three novel devices have been proposed and realized, including point-damage-based Fiber Bragg gratings in single-crystal sapphire fibers, all-sapphire fiber-tip Fabry-Pérot cavity, and in-fiber Whispering-Gallery mode resonator.

The two main themes in this thesis are the implementation of interference methods with optically trapped particles for measurements of position and optical phase (optical interferometric metrology) and the optical manipulation of nanoparticles for studies in the assembly of nanostructures, nanoscale heating and nonlinear optics (nanophotonics). The first part of the thesis (chapter 1, 2) provides an introductory overview to optical trapping and describes the basic experimental instrument used in the thesis respectively. The second part of the thesis (chapters 3 to 5) investigates the use of optical interferometric patterns of the diffracting light fields from optically trapped microparticles for three types of measurements: calibrating particle positions in an optical trap, determining the stiffness of an optical trap and measuring the change in phase or coherence of a given light field. The third part of the thesis (chapters 6 to 8) studies the interactions between optical traps and nanoparticles in three separate experiments: the optical manipulation of dielectric enhanced semiconductor nanoparticles, heating of optically trapped gold nanoparticles and collective optical response from an ensemble of optically trapped dielectric nanoparticles.

No presente trabalho foi realizado um estudo da viabilidade de integrar dois dispositivos ópticos: micro-lâmpadas incandescentes e filtros interferenciais com o objetivo de construir um dispositivo único com características próprias. A fabricação destes dispositivos ópticos foi feita utilizando materiais dielétricos, obtidos por deposição química a vapor assistida por plasma (PECVD), e usando técnicas convencionais de microeletrônica desenvolvidas neste laboratório. São apresentadas simulações numéricas, processo de fabricação e caracterização de cada um dos dois dispositivos ópticos assim como a caracterização do dispositivo óptico integrado obtido. As micro-lâmpadas incandescentes foram fabricadas a partir de um filamento de cromo, isolado do meio ambiente por duas camadas dielétricas de oxinitreto de silício, sendo alimentado eletricamente com uma tensão contínua com a finalidade de aumentar a temperatura do filamento até atingir a incandescência. Com a finalidade de reduzir a dissipação térmica nessa região, o filamento foi projetado e construído para ficar suspenso através de uma corrosão anisotrópica parcial do substrato de silício. Por outro lado, os filtros interferenciais foram fabricados sobre substratos de vidro a partir de uma série de camadas depositadas por PECVD alternadas de Si3N4 e SiO2, com espessuras de 240 e 340 nm e índices de refração de 1.91 e 1.46 respectivamente, com a finalidade de produzir picos de atenuação na transmitância da luz na região do visível do espectro eletromagnético. Foram construídos filtros com 9, 11 e 13 camadas. Os resultados deste trabalho mostraram que é possível realizar a integração eficiente destes dois dispositivos ópticos para produzir uma fonte luminosa que permite a filtragem de uma determinada faixa de comprimentos de onda. Foi demonstrado também que tanto a largura da faixa, como a região de filtragem, podem ser controladas através do índice de refração, espessuras e número de camadas constituintes do filtro interferencial. Os resultados das simulações numéricas mostraram-se bastante coerentes com os resultados experimentais obtidos. / In the present work was realized a study of the viability of integrating two optical devices: incandescent micro-lamps and interferometric filters with the intention of obtaining a single device with specific characteristics. The fabrication of these optical devices was made using dielectric materials, obtained by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and using conventional microelectronics techniques developed at this laboratory. Numeric simulations, fabrication process and characterization of each one of the two optical devices as well as the characterization of the obtained integrated optical device are presented. The incandescent microlamps were fabricated from a chromium filament, isolated from the environment by two dielectric silicon oxynitride layers, which is powered electrically with a continuous voltage with the purpose of increasing the temperature of the filament to reach the incandescence. With the purpose of reducing the thermal dissipation in that area, the filament was designed and fabricated to be suspended through a partial anisotropic etch of the silicon substrate. On the other hand, the interferometric filters were fabricated on glass substrates starting from a series of alternate Si3N4 and SiO2 layers deposited by PECVD, with thickness of 240 and 340 nm and refraction indexes of 1.91 and 1.46 respectively, with the purpose of producing light transmittance attenuation peaks in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Filters were fabricated with 9, 11 and 13 layers. The results of this work showed that it is possible to develop the efficient integration of these two optical devices to produce a luminous source that it allows the filtering of a certain range of wavelengths. It was also demonstrated that, the bandwidth as well as the filtering area, can be controlled through the refraction index, thickness and number of constituent layers of the interferometric filter. The results of the numeric simulations showed to be quite coherent with the obtained experimental results.

No presente trabalho foi realizado um estudo da viabilidade de integrar dois dispositivos ópticos: micro-lâmpadas incandescentes e filtros interferenciais com o objetivo de construir um dispositivo único com características próprias. A fabricação destes dispositivos ópticos foi feita utilizando materiais dielétricos, obtidos por deposição química a vapor assistida por plasma (PECVD), e usando técnicas convencionais de microeletrônica desenvolvidas neste laboratório. São apresentadas simulações numéricas, processo de fabricação e caracterização de cada um dos dois dispositivos ópticos assim como a caracterização do dispositivo óptico integrado obtido. As micro-lâmpadas incandescentes foram fabricadas a partir de um filamento de cromo, isolado do meio ambiente por duas camadas dielétricas de oxinitreto de silício, sendo alimentado eletricamente com uma tensão contínua com a finalidade de aumentar a temperatura do filamento até atingir a incandescência. Com a finalidade de reduzir a dissipação térmica nessa região, o filamento foi projetado e construído para ficar suspenso através de uma corrosão anisotrópica parcial do substrato de silício. Por outro lado, os filtros interferenciais foram fabricados sobre substratos de vidro a partir de uma série de camadas depositadas por PECVD alternadas de Si3N4 e SiO2, com espessuras de 240 e 340 nm e índices de refração de 1.91 e 1.46 respectivamente, com a finalidade de produzir picos de atenuação na transmitância da luz na região do visível do espectro eletromagnético. Foram construídos filtros com 9, 11 e 13 camadas. Os resultados deste trabalho mostraram que é possível realizar a integração eficiente destes dois dispositivos ópticos para produzir uma fonte luminosa que permite a filtragem de uma determinada faixa de comprimentos de onda. Foi demonstrado também que tanto a largura da faixa, como a região de filtragem, podem ser controladas através do índice de refração, espessuras e número de camadas constituintes do filtro interferencial. Os resultados das simulações numéricas mostraram-se bastante coerentes com os resultados experimentais obtidos. / In the present work was realized a study of the viability of integrating two optical devices: incandescent micro-lamps and interferometric filters with the intention of obtaining a single device with specific characteristics. The fabrication of these optical devices was made using dielectric materials, obtained by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and using conventional microelectronics techniques developed at this laboratory. Numeric simulations, fabrication process and characterization of each one of the two optical devices as well as the characterization of the obtained integrated optical device are presented. The incandescent microlamps were fabricated from a chromium filament, isolated from the environment by two dielectric silicon oxynitride layers, which is powered electrically with a continuous voltage with the purpose of increasing the temperature of the filament to reach the incandescence. With the purpose of reducing the thermal dissipation in that area, the filament was designed and fabricated to be suspended through a partial anisotropic etch of the silicon substrate. On the other hand, the interferometric filters were fabricated on glass substrates starting from a series of alternate Si3N4 and SiO2 layers deposited by PECVD, with thickness of 240 and 340 nm and refraction indexes of 1.91 and 1.46 respectively, with the purpose of producing light transmittance attenuation peaks in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Filters were fabricated with 9, 11 and 13 layers. The results of this work showed that it is possible to develop the efficient integration of these two optical devices to produce a luminous source that it allows the filtering of a certain range of wavelengths. It was also demonstrated that, the bandwidth as well as the filtering area, can be controlled through the refraction index, thickness and number of constituent layers of the interferometric filter. The results of the numeric simulations showed to be quite coherent with the obtained experimental results.

Com a crescente disponibilidade de luz síncrotron tem-se utilizado cada vez mais a dispersão anômala (f´) no estudo de materiais. Apesar dos vários métodos já empregados na medida do fator de espalhamento atômico, ainda é pequeno o número de elementos abrangidos. Este trabalho apresenta uma contribuição à ampliação da gama de elementos mensuráveis através de um método interferométrico diferencial para a determinação experimental de f´. A sua demonstração é feita através de medidas em Selênio obtendo-se o mesmo nível de precisão do método &#933-&#933/2 usado em trabalhos anteriores. Esses dois métodos são criticados quanto ao limite de erro atingível devido à sua natureza não-absoluta. Uma técnica de preparação de amostras para materiais de baixo ponto de fusão é explorada, permitindo determinar f´absolutamente, com erro de 0,03 elétron. A medida do fator de espalhamento atômico através do desvio angular entre as reflexões de Bragg e Laue é proposta e testada com resultados de qualidade bastante inferior às técnicas interferométricas. A construção de interferômetros de raios X estáveis e de alto contraste é estudada quanto à seleção dos monocristais de silício e tratamento após o corte do dispositivo, atingindo-se contraste de 80% com estabilidade de uma milifranja por hora. / The use of anomalous dispersion (f\') in the study of materials has been increasing with the availability of synchrotron radiation. Although many methods have been designed for the measurement of the atomic scattering factor, the number of elements the cover is still small. This work presents a contribution to the widening of the range of measurable elements through a Differential interferometric method for the determination of f´. Its demonstration is achieved by measurements on Selenium, reaching the same level of accuracy obtained by the &#933-&#933/2 method used in previous work. These two methods are criticized in terms of the achievable errors due to its non-absolute nature. A technique for the preparation of samples with low melting point materials is developed, allowing the determination of f´ absolutely, with an error of 0,03 electron. The measurement of atomic scattering factor through the angular offset between Bragg and Laue reflections is proposed and tested, with low quality results compared to interferometric methods. The construction of high stability and good contrast X-ray interferometers is studied in terms of silicon single crystal selection and its treatment after device cutting. 80% contrast was achieved with a stability of one milifringe per hour.

We show some preliminary 10-37 micron high-resolution spectra taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2008-9 of Mira variables distributed across the M, S and C chemical subclasses. Our entire Spitzer sample of 25 galactic Miras was observed from two to several times during this observing campaign and all have simultaneously measured near-infrared interferometric diameters acquired using the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. Because our sources are very bright for Spitzer IRS (typically 5-100 Janskys), we have excellent signal to noise and for many sources see marked changes in overall flux levels as a function of phase. Further, we are able to identify many strong emission lines and emission features due to silicate and carbon dusts and molecular constituents. We introduce the sample and the design of our experiment, discuss the data reduction required for such bright sources using Spitzer, show several examples of spectra with phase and discuss some preliminary findings. Finally, we discuss future steps for Paper II, to be presented later in the year.

[pt] O ruído interferométrico é um fator limitante cada vez mais importante nos sistemas óticos, principalmente nas ligações de longa distância em redes óticas transparentes. O presente trabalho analisa modelos para este tipo de ruído, dando um tratamento matemático novo para o modelo não-gaussiano. A teoria matemática é desenvolvida em detalhes e comrigor. O modelo gaussiano foi usado a fim de fazer previsões quanto aos valores de chão da taxa de erro de bits. Os dois modelos foram simulados em computador e comparados com os testes realizados em laboratório e os resultados são apresentados. / [en] The interferometric noise is becoming a serious limiting factor in optical systems,notably on long distance connections in transparent optical networks. The present work analyzes models for this kind of noise, giving a new mathematical treatment to the non-gaussian model. The mathematical theory is developed in detail and rigorously. The gaussian model was used in order to make predictions relative to bit error rate floors. Both models were simulated in computer and compared with the tests made in laboratory and the results are presented. / [es] EL ruido interferométrico es un factor limitante cada vez más importante en los sistemas ópticos, principalmente en las llamadas a larga distancia en redes ópticas transparentes. EL presente trabajo analiza modelos para este tipo de ruido, dando un nuevo tratamiento matemático para el modelo no gausiano. La teoría matemática es desarrollada en detalles y con rigor. EL modelo gausiano fue usado para efectuar previsiones de las cotas inferiores de la tasa de error de bits. Los dos modelos fueron simulados en computador y comparados con las priuebas de laboratorio y se presentan los resultados.

Com a crescente disponibilidade de luz síncrotron tem-se utilizado cada vez mais a dispersão anômala (f´) no estudo de materiais. Apesar dos vários métodos já empregados na medida do fator de espalhamento atômico, ainda é pequeno o número de elementos abrangidos. Este trabalho apresenta uma contribuição à ampliação da gama de elementos mensuráveis através de um método interferométrico diferencial para a determinação experimental de f´. A sua demonstração é feita através de medidas em Selênio obtendo-se o mesmo nível de precisão do método &#933-&#933/2 usado em trabalhos anteriores. Esses dois métodos são criticados quanto ao limite de erro atingível devido à sua natureza não-absoluta. Uma técnica de preparação de amostras para materiais de baixo ponto de fusão é explorada, permitindo determinar f´absolutamente, com erro de 0,03 elétron. A medida do fator de espalhamento atômico através do desvio angular entre as reflexões de Bragg e Laue é proposta e testada com resultados de qualidade bastante inferior às técnicas interferométricas. A construção de interferômetros de raios X estáveis e de alto contraste é estudada quanto à seleção dos monocristais de silício e tratamento após o corte do dispositivo, atingindo-se contraste de 80% com estabilidade de uma milifranja por hora. / The use of anomalous dispersion (f\') in the study of materials has been increasing with the availability of synchrotron radiation. Although many methods have been designed for the measurement of the atomic scattering factor, the number of elements the cover is still small. This work presents a contribution to the widening of the range of measurable elements through a Differential interferometric method for the determination of f´. Its demonstration is achieved by measurements on Selenium, reaching the same level of accuracy obtained by the &#933-&#933/2 method used in previous work. These two methods are criticized in terms of the achievable errors due to its non-absolute nature. A technique for the preparation of samples with low melting point materials is developed, allowing the determination of f´ absolutely, with an error of 0,03 electron. The measurement of atomic scattering factor through the angular offset between Bragg and Laue reflections is proposed and tested, with low quality results compared to interferometric methods. The construction of high stability and good contrast X-ray interferometers is studied in terms of silicon single crystal selection and its treatment after device cutting. 80% contrast was achieved with a stability of one milifringe per hour.