Osciladores Controlados por Tensão (VCOs - Voltage-Controlled Oscillators) são circuitos de grande importância em sistemas de comunicação por radiofrequência atuais. Muitos trabalhos de pesquisa recentes têm focado no desenvolvimento de VCOs para aplicações em uma faixa muito grande de frequências (isto é, suportando amplo tunning range). O desenvolvimento de VCOs com uma ampla faixa de sintonia tem motivação na abertura de bandas de frequência, que até pouco tempo estavam licenciadas apenas para usos específicos, porém agora estão também abertas para a utilização de sistemas de rádios cognitivos. A ideia é que o rádio cognitivo tenha recursos para detectar se um canal (ou faixa de frequência) está sendo usado e, em caso de o canal não estar sendo usado, o rádio cognitivo deve se reconfigurar para operar nesse canal. Desse modo, os rádios cognitivos devem possuir um alto grau de reconfigurabilidade, de forma que possam operar em uma faixa muito ampla de frequências. Esse requisito exige o uso de de VCOs com um amplo tunning range. Este trabalho apresenta um projeto completo de um LC-VCO com uma larga faixa de frequência de operação (widedand). Um amplo tunning range foi obtido a partir do chaveamento (ou programação) do valor da capacitância total do tanque-LC do VCO, gerando assim várias sub-bandas de frequência. O ganho do VCO (KVCO) manteve-se com pequenas variações para todas as subbandas de frequência, com um valor médio de 88.6MHz, sendo 112MHz e 80MHz os valores máximo e mínimo, respectivamente. O ruído de fase variou de -118.4dBc/Hz a -107.4dBc/Hz para as portadores em 3.7GHz e 8.1GHz, respectivamente, enquanto que a potência dissipada do circuito LC-VCO variou de 1.8mW a 5.6mW para todo o tunning range. Para a figura de mérito power-frequency-tunning-normalized (FOMPFTN), os valores obtidos foram na faixa 3.1dB e 11.2dB, comparáveis com a maioria dos trabalhos publicados na área. / Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) are very important circuits in current radio frequency communication systems. Much research has been focused recently on developing wideband VCOs in CMOS. The motivation on wideband VCOs is based on the opening of frequency bands, which until recently were licensed for specific uses, for use by cognitive radio systems. The idea is that cognitive radio must have the ability to detect whether a channel (or frequency band) is being used and if the channel is not being used, the cognitive radio must reconfigure itself to operate on that channel. Thus, cognitive radios should possess a high degree of reconfigurability, so that they can operate in a very wide frequency range. This requires the use of VCOs with a wide tunning range. This work presents a complete design of a LC-VCO with a wide operating frequency range (widedand). A wide tunning range has been obtained from the switching (or programming) the value of the total capacitance of the LC-tank of the VCO, thereby generating multiple frequency sub-bands. The VCO gain (KVCO) was maintained with small variations for all frequency sub-bands, with an average value of 88.6MHz, with 80MHz and 112MHz for the minimum and maximum values, respectively. The phase noise ranged from -118.4dBc/Hz to -107.4dBc/Hz for carriers at 3.7GHz and 8.1GHz, respectively, while the power dissipated in the LC-VCO circuit ranged from 1.8mW to 5.6mW for all tunning range. For the figure of merit power-frequency-tuning-normalized (FOMPFTN), the results were in the 3.1dB to 11.2dB range, comparable to most recently published works.

Le sujet de thèse porte sur des micro/nanorésonateurs ainsi que leurs électroniques de lecture. Les composants mécaniques sont utilisés pour mesurer des masses inférieures à l'attogramme (10-18 g) ou de très faibles concentrations de gaz. Ces composants peuvent ensuite être mis en réseau afin de réaliser des spectromètres de masse ou des détecteurs de gaz. Afin d'atteindre les résolutions nécessaires, il a été choisi d'utiliser une détection harmonique de résonance détectant les variations de la fréquence de résonance d'une nanostructure mécanique. Les dimensions du résonateur sont réduites afin d'augmenter sensibilité en masse, cependant le niveau du signal électrique en sortie du composant est également réduit. Ce faible signal nécessite donc de concevoir de nouvelles transductions électromécaniques ainsi que des architectures électroniques qui minimisent le bruit, les couplages parasites et qui peuvent être mise en réseau. / The PhD project focuses on micro or nanomechanical resonators and their surrounding electronics environment. Mechanical components are employed to sense masses in the attogram range (10−18 g) or extremely low gas concentrations. The components can then be implemented in arrays in order to construct cutting-edge mass spectrometers or gas chromatographs. To reach the necessary resolutions, a harmonic detection of resonance technique is employed that measures the shift of the resonant frequency of a tiny mechanical structure due to an added mass or a gas adsorption. The need of shrinking the resonator's dimensions to enhance the sensitivity also reduces the signal delivered by the component. The resonator low output signal requires employing new electromechanical resonator topologies and electronic architectures that minimize the noise, the parasitic couplings and that can be implemented in arrays.

Le sujet de thèse porte sur des micro/nanorésonateurs ainsi que leurs électroniques de lecture. Les composants mécaniques sont utilisés pour mesurer des masses inférieures à l'attogramme (10-18 g) ou de très faibles concentrations de gaz. Ces composants peuvent ensuite être mis en réseau afin de réaliser des spectromètres de masse ou des détecteurs de gaz. Afin d'atteindre les résolutions nécessaires, il a été choisi d'utiliser une détection harmonique de résonance détectant les variations de la fréquence de résonance d'une nanostructure mécanique. Les dimensions du résonateur sont réduites afin d'augmenter sensibilité en masse, cependant le niveau du signal électrique en sortie du composant est également réduit. Ce faible signal nécessite donc de concevoir de nouvelles transductions électromécaniques ainsi que des architectures électroniques qui minimisent le bruit, les couplages parasites et qui peuvent être mise en réseau. / The PhD project focuses on micro or nanomechanical resonators and their surrounding electronics environment. Mechanical components are employed to sense masses in the attogram range (10−18 g) or extremely low gas concentrations. The components can then be implemented in arrays in order to construct cutting-edge mass spectrometers or gas chromatographs. To reach the necessary resolutions, a harmonic detection of resonance technique is employed that measures the shift of the resonant frequency of a tiny mechanical structure due to an added mass or a gas adsorption. The need of shrinking the resonator's dimensions to enhance the sensitivity also reduces the signal delivered by the component. The resonator low output signal requires employing new electromechanical resonator topologies and electronic architectures that minimize the noise, the parasitic couplings and that can be implemented in arrays.

Daily rhythms in physiology and behaviour are orchestrated by theautonomously rhythmic cells of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).Restricting food intake to the rest phase of nocturnal rodents, leads to thedevelopment of meal anticipatory behaviour, corticosterone and bodytemperature. Given that lesions to the SCN fail to abolish meal anticipation, asecond oscillator of unknown location, referred to as the food-entrainableoscillator (FEO) is thought to exist. Although the site of the FEO is unknown,several hypothalamus nuclei, including the dorsomedial hypothalamus(DMH) are thought to play a role in meal anticipation. Given thatadrenalectomy is reported to abolish meal anticipation, an intact HPA axis isalso thought to contribute to the functioning of the FEO. Some forms ofobesity are characterised by high basal levels of circulating corticosterone. Inaddition, limited access to high fat diet, fails to induce the development ofrobust meal anticipation in rats. During our initial studies, the effect of a standard and 45% high fat diet onthe development of meal anticipatory behaviour and hypothalamic c-Fosexpression were investigated. Restricted access to high fat diet led toattenuation of meal anticipation compared to those fed standard diet. Thiswas concurrent with a failure to develop an anticipatory rise in DMH c-Fosexpression. A meal anticipatory rise in corticosterone is thought to benecessary for the presence of meal anticipation as well as adaptation ofmetabolism to daily restricted feeding. In the next set of studies, weconfirmed that restricted access to standard diet leads to the development ofa meal anticipatory rise in plasma corticosterone. In contrast we observed adramatic post-anticipatory rise in plasma corticosterone in rats givenrestricted access to the 45% high fat diet. We hypothesised that the highcorticosterone levels resulting from high fat diet were a contributing factor tothe lack of meal anticipation in high fat fed rats. With the aid of apharmacokinetic study, a suitable experiment was designed for daily dosingof a potent glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, RU486, with the aim ofrescuing meal anticipation in high fat fed rats. Interestingly, treatment withRU486 successfully rescued meal anticipation in high fat fed rats, butattenuated meal anticipation in standard diet restricted fed rats. In the finalseries of studies the effect of diet and feeding regime on glucose toleranceand metabolism were investigated. High fat feeding was found to reduceglucose tolerance in both ad lib and restricted fed rats, with RU486 treatmentimproving glucose tolerance in a time dependant manner. Restricted accessto food was found to induce post satiation lipogenesis in both standard dietfed and to a lesser extent in high fat fed rats, an effect which may bebeneficial in reducing obesity. Overall the results provide further insight intothe complex role of corticosterone in promoting or preventing mealanticipatory behaviour. An anticipatory rise in plasma corticosterone isrequired for meal anticipation, as repeated daily dosing of RU486 inhibit mealanticipation. The high basal levels of corticosterone in high fat fed rats mayprevent meal anticipation, insulin secretion and post-satiation lipogenesiswhich may in fact be a homeostatic mechanism to prevent obesity. Nonetheless, treatment with RU486 rescues behavioural meal anticipationand glucose tolerance.

We investigate the energy levels of a particle confined in the isotropic oscillator potential with a magnetic and spatially varying electric field. Here we are able to exactly solve the Schrodinger equation, using matrix methods, for the first excited states. To this end we find that the spatial gradient of the electric field acts as a magnetic field in certain circumstances. Here we present the changes in the energy levels as functions of the electric field, and other parameters.

Static techniques to measure different magnetic properties of coupled magnetic nanostructured systems is researched and documented with an extensive analysis of the tunnel diode oscillator (TDO). The VSM was used to obtain the major hysteresis loop for the samples and the TDO was used to measure the magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic susceptibility was employed to conceive the static critical curve. The thesis describes both equipments, VSM and TDO, that were used to obtain data for our experiments. Albeit a more comprehensive outlook on the TDO is provided. The theoretical functionality of TDO, previous successful applications for experiments, and the physical setup in the laboratory is explored. The novel addition of the double Helmholtz coil in this setup is described. The viability of replacement of the big electromagnet and the advantages of the Helmholtz coil are discussed. Magnetization dynamics in a series of FeCoB/Ru/FeCoB synthetic antiferromagnetic samples were investigated via reversible susceptibility measurements acquired through the TDO. The major hysteresis loop generated by the VSM were used to calculate the coercivity and magnetic saturation of the sample. The VSM and TDO were subsequently used to explore the magnetization switching in a di_erent coupled magnetic system, the exchange bias samples. A range of NiFe/FeMn samples were studied with varying thickness of the antiferromagnetic layer.

Ces dernières années les bandes de fréquence millimétriques et térahertz (THz) on tmontrées un fort potentiel pour de nombreuses applications telles que l’imagerie médicale et ,biologique, le contrôle de qualité ou les communications à très haut débit. Les principales raisons de cet intérêt sont les nombreuses propriétés intéressantes des ondes THz et millimétriques, telles que leur capacité traverser la matière et ceci de manière inoffensive ou le large spectre disponible à ces fréquences. Les applications visées nécessitent des sources de signaux énergétiquement efficaces, à forte puissance de sortie et, pour certaines applications, à faible bruit de phase. De plus, la demande croissante pour des applications dans ces bandes de fréquence imposent l’utilisation de technologie de hautes performances à coût métrisé et permettant une intégration à très grande échelle, telle que la technologie28nm CMOS FD-SOI. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse propose une solution innovante pour la génération de fréquence millimétrique et THz en technologie CMOS : l’oscillateur distribué verrouillé par injection. Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit englobent l’analyse détaillé de l’état de l’art et de ses limites, l’étude théorique approfondie de la solution proposée pour une intégration en ondes millimétriques, le développement d’une méthodologie de conception spécifique en technologie CMOS ainsi que la conception de démonstrateurs technologique. Les différents oscillateurs intégrés en technologie 28nm FDSOI et opérant à des fréquences respectivement de 134 GHz et 200 GHz ont permis de démontrer la faisabilité de sources de signaux millimétrique et THz, à forte efficacité énergétique, forte puissance de sortie et faible bruit de phase en technologie CMOS à très grande échelle d’intégration. Enfin, la capacité de verrouillage par injection de tels oscillateurs distribués a été démontrée expérimentalement ouvrant la voie à de futurs systèmes THz totalement intégrés sur silicium. Les solutions intégrées démontrées dans cette thèse ont, à l’heure actuelle, la plus grande fréquence d’oscillation dans un noeud Silicium 28nm CMOS. / In recent years, millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and terahertz (THz) frequency bands haverevealed a great potential for many applications such as medical and biological imaging,quality control, and very-high-speed communications. The main reasons for this interestare the many interesting properties of THz and millimeter waves, such as their ability toharmlessly penetrate through matter or the broad spectrum available at these frequencies.Targeted applications require energy efficient signal sources with high power outputand, for some applications, low phase noise. In addition, the increasing demand in mmwave/THz applications requires the use of a cost-optimized, high-performance, and verylarge scale integration (VLSI) technologies, such as the 28nm CMOS FD-SOI technology.In this context, this thesis proposes an innovative solution for mm-wave and THz frequencygeneration in CMOS technology: the injection locked distributed oscillator (ILDO). Thework presented in this manuscript includes the detailed analysis of the state-of-the-artand its limitations, the detailed theoretical study of the proposed millimeter-waves bandsolution, the development of a specific design methodology in CMOS technology as well asthe design of technological demonstrators. The several 28nm FDSOI integrated distributedoscillators at 134 GHz and respectively 200 GHz have demonstrated the feasibility ofmm-wave and THz signal sources with high-energy efficiency, high output power, and lowphase noise in a VLSI CMOS technology. Finally, the injection locking capability of suchdistributed oscillators has been demonstrated experimentally paving the way for a futuresilicon-based fully integrated THz systems. The proposed circuits are as of today thehighest oscillation frequency solutions demonstrated in a 28nm CMOS Silicon technology.

Résumé: Cette thèse est le fruit de plusieurs années de travail passées à développer un spectromètre de génération de fréquence somme dans le laboratoire LASMOS. Ce spectromètre comprend essentiellement deux lasers accordables, un échantillon non linéaire et un monochromateur. Mélanger les deux faisceaux laser accordables sur l’échantillon non linéaire résulte en la génération d'une onde supplémentaire de fréquence égale à la somme des deux fréquences incidentes (SFG). Détecter le signal SFG et accorder une, ou les deux fréquences, permettent la caractérisation de la réponse non linéaire de l'échantillon. Dans notre montage, le premier faisceau laser est accordable dans l'infrarouge de 2,5 jusqu'à 20 0m et le deuxième est accordable dans la région visible de 400 à 700 nm. La génération des deux faisceaux laser accordables est faite par des oscillateurs paramétriques optiques (OPO) qui sont construits autour de cristaux de LiNbO3, d’AgGaS2 et de BBO. Une étape supplémentaire de génération de fréquence différence (DFG) étend l’accordabilité de 10 à 20 0m. L’étape de la DFG est basée sur un tandem de cristaux non linéaire de KTP et de CdSe. Une structure en train d’impulsions est nécessaire pour pomper optiquement le système de l'OPO. Le train d’impulsions peut être engendré par la technique de verrouillage des modes. Nous avons focalisé notre travail sur le verrouillage des modes de l'oscillateur Nd:YAG par le miroir non linéaire à doublage de fréquence (FDNLM). Cette dernière technique combinée avec un absorbeur saturable à deux photons (comme une plaquette de GaAs) permet d’obtenir des impulsions optiques courtes et stables à partir d’un laser Nd:YAG pulsé et pompé par des lampes flashes à bas taux de répétition. Des impulsions aussi courtes que 12 ps sont émises à un taux de répétition de 100 MHz. Par ce résultat, nous nous approchons de la limite physique de la durée de l’impulsion dans un oscillateur Nd:YAG. Cette technologie « tout d’état solide » présente les mérites suivants: stabilité photochimique, temps de réponse rapide, applicabilité à une gamme spectrale relativement large et simplicité. Une approche théorique complète également notre étude pour déterminer le domaine d'opération de ce dispositif. Abstract: This thesis describes the efforts of several years devoted to developing a Sum-Frequency Generation spectrometer in the LASMOS laboratory. The Sum- Frequency Generation spectrometer relies mainly on two tunable lasers, a nonlinear sample and a monochromator. Mixing the tunable laser beams on the nonlinear sample will result in the generation of an additional beam at the sum frequency (SFG) of the incident beams. Detecting the SFG signal and tuning one of the incident frequencies or both frequencies permit the characterization of the nonlinear response of the sample. In our setup, the first laser beam is tunable in the IR spectral region from 2.5 up to 20 0m and the second one is tunable in the visible spectral region from 400 to 700 nm. The generation of both tunable laser beams is carried out by the optical parametric oscillators (OPO) built around a LiNbO3, an AgGaS2 and a BBO nonlinear crystals. An additional difference-frequency generation (DFG) stage based on a tandem of KTP and CdSe crystals is built to extend the tunability up to 20 0m. A pulse-train structure is necessary for pumping the OPO. Pulse trains can be generated by the mode-locking technique. In our work, we focused on the mode locking of the Nd:YAG oscillator using a frequency-doubling nonlinear mirror (FDNLM). This technique combined with a two-photon saturable absorber (for example: a GaAs platelet) can generate short and stable optical pulses from a flash-pumped Nd:YAG laser oscillator at a low repetition rate. Pulses as short as 12 ps are generated at 100 MHz repetition rate. With this result, we approach the physical limit of pulse duration in the Nd:YAG laser. This all-solid-state technology presents the following merits: photochemical stability, fast response time, applicability to a wide spectral range, and simplicity. A theoretical model is used to analyze the domain of operation of this device.

Sound generated by impacting structures is of considerable importance in noise control. Sound is generated by a vibrating structure by inducing pressure fluctuations in the surrounding medium. Impact induced noise is the sound generated by a vibrating structure subjected to motion constraint. In such problems one has to study the vibration behavior of the oscillator, the impact mechanics, and the emanating acoustic field dynamics. A literature review carried out points to the fact that though there has been considerable work on vibration behavior of impact oscillators and the acoustics of impact of rigid masses, there is very little work reported on the sound generated due to vibration and impact. This thesis couples vibration analysis of oscillators undergoing impact with its acoustic behavior. The vibration behavior is nonlinear on account of the impact. Therefore the vibration analysis as well as the resulting acoustic field analysis has to be in the time-domain. This investigation is concerned with the effect of structural dynamics, impact dynamics, and acoustic field boundary conditions, on the sound pressure generated due to vibration and impact. We have considered a single degree of freedom as well as a flexible Euler-Bernoulli beam vibration model. The former is the simplest for studying vibro-acoustic response. The numerical model of the beam is derived using the finite element method resulting in a finite dimensional system with more than one degree of freedom. The dynamics of each degree of freedom are distinct in terms of amplitude and phase and are a function of the nature of linear dependence on other degrees of freedom and the nature of excitation. An impacting beam introduces interesting interactions between the dynamics of the degrees of freedom as a consequence of nonlinearity due to the motion constraint. The impact of the oscillator mass with a barrier is modeled using a simple coefficient of restitution model based on Hertzian contact theory. There is velocity reversal on contact with the barrier. The contact force is finite acting within a finite interval of time. The contact force is assumed to vary in time during the contact interval. This effectively models contact as linearly elastic. The pressure perturbation due to vibration of the oscillator mass is shown equivalent to the pressure perturbation due to an acoustic dipole. The acoustic dipole is placed at the equilibrium position of the vibrating mass. The dipole pressure is then a function of motion of the oscillator. In the case of a single degree of freedom oscillator the dipole axis is along the direction of motion. The sound pressure due to a vibrating beam is modeled as an array of acoustic dipoles placed at the finite element nodes of the beam and stationary at the beam's static equilibrium configuration. The dipole axis is once again aligned with the direction of vibration of the beam that is transverse to the beam neutral axis. Anechoic as well as perfectly reflecting acoustic boundary conditions are simulated in the time-domain. The resulting governing equation of motion of the single degree freedom oscillator as well as the beam are integrated numerically in time to compute its response. The acoustic pressure is shown to be critically dependent on the excitation frequency of the oscillator, dynamic properties of the oscillator, coefficient of restitution of impact and impact dynamics, and acoustic field boundary conditions.

We apply the Segal process of group simplification to the linear harmonic oscillator. The result is a finite quantum theory with three quantum constants instead of the usual one. We compare the classical (CLHO), quantum (QLHO), and finite (FLHO) linear harmonic oscillators and their canonical or unitary groups. The FLHO is isomorphic to a dipole rotator with N=l(l+1) states where l is very large for physically interesting case. The position and momentum variables are quantized with uniform finite spectra. For fixed quantum constants and large N there are three broad classes of FLHO: soft, medium, and hard corresponding respectively to cases where ratio of the of potential energy to kinetic energy in the Hamiltonian is very small, almost equal to one, or very large The field oscillators responsible for infra-red and ultraviolet divergences are soft and hard respectively. Medium oscillators approximate the QLHO. Their low-lying states have nearly the same zero-point energy and level spacing as the QLHO, and nearly obeying the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the equipartition principle. The corresponding rotators are nearly polarized along the z-axis. The soft and hard FLHO's have infinitesimal 0-point energy and grossly violate equipartition and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. They do not resemble the QLHO at all. Their low-lying energy states correspond to rotators polaroizd along x-axis or y-axis respectively. Soft oscillators have frozen momentum, because their maximum potential energy is too small to produce one quantum of momentum. Hard oscillators have frozen position, because their maximum kinetic energy is too small to produce one quantum of momentum. Hard oscillators have frozen position, because their maximum kinetic energy is too small to excite one quantum of position.