Weak interactions in an atomic system by external electromagnetic fields or nucleon-nucleon interaction cause perturbations in the wave-function and energy levels of electrons, which allow for transitions that are otherwise forbidden. Of particular interest are magnetic dipole (M1) transitions, Stark-induced transitions, and parity non-conserving (PNC) transitions. The PNC interaction in the hyperfine ground states is dominantly due to the anapole moment of the nucleus and there has been up-to-date only one such measurement carried out in any system; the Boulder group's ground-breaking measurement of the anapole moment in atomic cesium in 1997. Their result derived from two different hyperfine transitions, however, did not agree with the meson-coupling model from high energy physics experiments. Therefore, it is important to revisit the anapole moment through another method to cross-check the Boulder group's measurement. Our goal is to excite the nuclear-spin-dependent (NSD) PNC ground hyperfine transitions in cesium via radio-frequency (rf) and Raman excitation to directly determine the anapole moment. I present our progress toward measurement of the NSD transition in an atomic Cs beam geometry. We have developed a broadband rf cavity resonator to strongly suppress the magnetic dipole (M1) transition while enhancing the forbidden PNC electric dipole (E1) transition. We employed an injection locking scheme to generate a pair of phase-coherent Raman lasers far detuned from the cesium D2 line (852 nm) with a 9.2 GHz frequency difference. I report various measurement data from atomic signal via rf and Raman excitation. In the next generation of measurements, we will carry out interference experiments between rf and Raman transitions by varying the phase relations of the rf and Raman lasers fields. Finally, based on the measurements, I discuss a novel robust measurement technique involving interference of the Raman, M1 and E_PNC contributions.<br>

L’objectif de la présente thèse est d’évaluer les performances des micro-antennes, en cas d’emploi en spectroscopie in vivo et de prévoir les éventuelles améliorations, tout en respectant les contraintes en termes d’encombrement et de biocompatibilité imposées par des applications cérébrales sur modèle animal. Par conséquent, dans ce travail, il fallait également évaluer la sensibilité tout en comprenant le fonctionnement particulier de ces micro-capteurs, points qui n’avaient pas encore été explorés. Ce document est organisé en cinq chapitres, le Premier est un aperçu sur la situation du sujet par rapport à l’existant et un rappel technique sur les travaux déjà effectués en matière de réalisation et en rapport avec les différents métabolites «cibles». Le Chapitre II présente les développements instrumentaux entrepris en vue de l’amélioration des conditions de détection: optimisation de l’adaptation en puissance et de l’adaptation en bruit à l’entrée du spectromètre prise aussi en considération. La difficulté du maintien du modèle dans un espace restreint est solutionnée en proposant différents montages de réglages déportés. L’introduction d’un préamplificateur à faible bruit est également étudiée et réalisée sur la micro-antenne et une antenne de surface fait maison. La question importante de la limite de détection est abordée sous un angle théorique et expérimental dans le Chapitre III. L’intérêt de cette analyse est l’évaluation des performances de la micro-antenne, on verra que cette nouvelle notion permet également de qualifier une installation de spectroscopie (capteur associé à un spectromètre pour une expérience donnée). Une étude d’amélioration apportée sur la limite de détection (LOD) par la technique de pondération sera traitée et validée sur des acquisitions spectroscopiques. Le Chapitre IV est destinée dans un première partie, à travers les modélisations, à discuter les variations de la limite de détection pour certains changements structurels (la dimension et le positionnement de la micro-bobine). Dans la deuxième partie, une mise en application de la limite de détection, à travers les expériences spectroscopiques sera présentée dans le but de comparer les performances de capteurs existants: principalement une antenne commerciale, la micro-antenne et une antenne fait maison. La question de la biocompatibilité de ces microantennes implantables est traitée dans le Chapitre V. La réalisation de cette étude a été effectuée en amont des travaux théoriques et instrumentaux et a permis leurs développements avec une démarche plus pragmatique / The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the micro-coil performance, in spectroscopy in vivo and provide any improvements, while respecting the constraints in terms of obstruction and biocompatibility imposed by applications on brain of animal models. Therefore, this work had also to assess the sensitivity understanding of these particular micro-sensors, a notion that has not yet been explored. This document is organized into five chapters: the first one is an "overview" of state of art techniques and a reminder of the work already done in terms of production and in relation to different metabolite "targets". Chapter II presents the instrumental developments undertaken to improve the detection: optimization of adaptation in power and noise matching at the spectrometer input, were also taken into account. The difficulty of maintaining the animal model in a reduced space is solved by providing different configurations of remote settings. The introduction of a low-noise preamplifier is also studied and implemented. The important question of the limit of detection is approached from a theoretical point of view in Chapter III. The interest of this analysis is to assess the performance of micro-coil, we will point out that this new concept enables to describe a spectroscopy facility (sensor associated with a spectrometer for a given experiment). A study of enhancement of the limit of detection by the apodization technique will be addressed and validated on spectroscopy acquisitions. Chapter IV is an implementation in the first part, through modelling, to discuss changes in the limit of detection for some structural changes (size and positioning of the micro-coil). In the second part, an implementation of the limit of detection through spectroscopic experiments will be presented in order to compare the performance of existing coils: a commercial coil and a micro-coil. The biocompatibility of implantable micro-coil treated in Chapter V. The completion of this study was carried out upstream of the theoretical and instrumental aspects in chapter III and IV and that helped their development with a more pragmatic approach

We have developed a new modulation calorimetry technique using RF-Field heating. This technique eliminates temperature gradients across the sample leading to a higher precision in evaluating the heat capacity compared to the previous techniques. A frequency scan was carried out on a 8CB+aerosil sample showing a wide plateau indicating the region of frequency independent heat capacity. A temperature scan was then performed through the first-order nematic to isotropic and second order smectic-A to nematic transitions and was shown to be consistent with the previous work. The amplitude of the RF heating power applied to the sample depends on the permittivity and the loss factor of the sample. Since the permittivity of a dielectric material has a strong temperature dependence in liquid crystals, new information is obtained. The heat capacity measurements have a relative resolution of better than 0.06%, and the phase shift a resolution of 0.03%, were shown to be significant improvements over traditional heating methods. We then applied this new RF calorimetry on bulk and aerosil 8CB dispersions. For the bulk 8CB, the step-like character of smectic-A to nematic transition, and first order nematic to isotropic transitions indicated the strong dominance of the permittivity and the loss factor of the material. For the 8CB+aerosil samples at different silica density, our data were consistent with the previous work and provides clear evidence for the coupling between the smectic-A and nematic phases. We have undertaken a combined T-dependent optical and calorimetric investigation of CCN47+aerosil samples through the I-N transition over a range of silica densities displaying the double I-N transition peak. This work offers compelling evidence that the I-N transition with weak quenched random disorder proceeds via a two-step process in which random-dilution is followed by random-field interactions on cooling from the isotropic phase, a previously unrecognized phenomena.