Noise contribution in nonlinear systems is very different from that in linear systems. The noise effects in nonlinear systems can be complicated and not obvious to predict. In this thesis, the focus was on the noise contribution in nonlinear systems when measuring with the nonlinear vector network analyzer (NVNA). An additional noise source together with a single sinewave signal was fed into the input of the amplifier and the performance was studied. The input power of the amplifier is considered to be the sum of the noise power and the signal power. The variation of the 1 dB compression point and the third order interception point as functions of the added noise power were studied. From the measured results in this thesis, the 1 dB compression point referred to the output power will decrease when increasing the added noise power at the input of the amplifier. The contribution of the added noise to the 1 dB compression point of an amplifier is considered dual: with the added noise the linear regression lines of the AM/AM curves are changed, and due to hard clipping the useful output power is reduced. As a result of those two effects, the added noise made the compression start at a lower power level. When the added noise reaches a certain level, the 1 dB compression point is hard to measure. Thus when performing nonlinear measurements, the noise effects should be taken into considerations and further studies are required to get better understanding of the system’s behavior in noisy environment.

Lorsqu’un liquide est refroidit suffisamment vite, la cristallisation peut être évitée. On a alors un liquide surfondu dont le temps de relaxation augmente fortement quand la température diminue vers la température de transition vitreuse Tg. En-dessous de Tg, le systèmeest dans l’état vitreux. Il vieillit : son temps de relaxation augmente au cours du temps. L’existence d’une longueur de corrélation croissante associée au ralentissement de la dynamique des liquides surfondus (ou des verres) est une des grandes questions toujours ouvertes dans la physique de la transition vitreuse. Des arguments théoriques très généraux ont montré que la mesure de la susceptibilité alternative non linéaire d’ordre trois des liquides surfondus (ou des verres) donnait directement accès à la longueur de corrélation dynamique. Nous avons mis au point une expérience à haute sensibilité permettant d’accéder à deux susceptibilités diélectriques non linéaires d’ordre trois près de Tg. Nos résultats obtenus sur du glycrol surfondu sont quantitativement en très bon accord avec les prédictions théoriques. Ils montrent que la longueur de corrélation dynamique augmente lorsque T diminue vers Tg. En dessous de Tg, l’étude du vieillissement d’une des susceptibilités non linéaires nous a permis de mettre en évidence que la longueur de corrélation dynamique augmente au cours du temps. Ces résultats renforcent le scénario selon lequel la transition vitreuse serait liée à un point critique sous-jacent, ce qui expliquerait l’ubiquité du comportement vitreux dans la nature. / Upon fast enough cooling, a liquid avoids crystallization and enters in a supercooled state. The relaxation time of this supercooled liquid increases extremely fast when the temperature decreases towards the glass transition temperature Tg. Below Tg, the system is in the glassy state. It ages : the relaxation time increases with time. The existence of a growing correlation length associated to the slowing down of supercooled liquids (or of glasses) is one of the main open issues in the physics of the glass transition. On very general theoretical arguments, it has been shown that the third order a.c. nonlinear susceptibility around Tg gives direct access to the dynamical correlation length. We have developped a high sensibility experiment to measure, close to Tg, two nonlinear dielectric susceptibilities of the third order. Our results performed on supercooled glycerol are quantitatively in very good agreement with theoretical predictions. They show that the dynamical correlation length increases when T decreases towards Tg. Below Tg, aging experiments of one of the nonlinear susceptibilities reveal that the dynamical correlation length increases with time. These results clearly evidence the collective character of glassy dynamics and reinforce the picture of an underlying critical point, which would explain the ubiquity of the glass transition in Nature.