In this thesis, we report the observations of optical squeezing from second harmonic generation (SHG), optical parametric oscillation (OPO) and optical parametric amplification (OPA). Demonstrations and proposals of applications involving the squeezed light and electro-optic control loops are presented. ¶ In our SHG setup, we report the observation of 2.1 dB of intensity squeezing on the second harmonic (SH) output. Investigations into the system show that the squeezing performance of a SHG system is critically affected by the pump noise and a modular theory of noise propagation is developed to describe and quantify this effect. Our experimental data has also shown that in a low-loss SHG system, intra-cavity nondegenerate OPO modes can simultaneously occur. This competition of nonlinear processes leads to the optical clamping of the SH output power and in general can degrade the SH squeezing. We model this competition and show that it imposes a limit to the observable SH squeezing. Proposals for minimizing the effect of competition are presented. ¶ In our OPO setup, we report the observation of 7.1 dB of vacuum squeezing and more than 4 dB of intensity squeezing when the OPO is operating as a parametric amplifier. We present the design criteria and discuss the limits to the observable squeezing from the OPO.We attribute the large amount of squeezing obtained in our experiment to the high escape efficiency of the OPO. The effect of phase jitter on the squeezing of the vacuum state is modeled. ¶ The quantum noise performance of an electro-optic feedforward control loop is investigated. With classical coherent inputs, we demonstrate that vacuum fluctuations introduced at the beam splitter of the control loop can be completely cancelled by an optimum amount of positive feedforward. The cancellation of vacuum fluctuations leads to the possibility of noiseless signal amplification with the feedforward loop. Comparison shows that the feedforward amplifier is superior or at least comparable in performance with other noiseless amplification schemes. When combined with an injection-locked non-planar ring Nd:YAG laser, we demonstrate that signal and power amplifications can both be noiseless and independently variable. ¶ Using squeezed inputs to the feedforward control loop, we demonstrate that information carrying squeezed states can be made robust to large downstream transmission losses via a noiseless signal amplification. We show that the combination of a squeezed vacuum meter input and a feedforward loop is a quantum nondemolition (QND) device, with the feedforward loop providing an additional improvement on the transfer of signal. In general, the use of a squeezed vacuum meter input and an electro-optic feedforward loop can provide pre- and post- enhancements to many existing QND schemes. ¶ Finally, we proposed that the quantum teleportation of a continuous-wave optical state can be achieved using a pair of phase and amplitude electro-optic feedforward loops with two orthogonal quadrature squeezed inputs. The signal transfer and quantum correlation of the teleported optical state are analysed. We show that a two dimensional diagram, similar to the QND figures of merits, can be used to quantify the performance of a teleporter.

Une mémoire quantique réversible permettant de stocker et relire de l'information quantique est une composante majeure dans la mise en œuvre de nombreux protocoles d'information quantique. Comme la lumière est un porteur de l'information quantique fiable sur des longues distances, et comme les atomes offrent la possibilité d'obtenir de longues durées de stockage, le recherche actuelle sur la création d'une mémoire quantique se concentre sur la transfert des fluctuations quantiques de la lumière sur des cohérences atomiques. Le travail réalisé durant cette thèse porte sur le développement d'une mémoire quantique pour la lumière comprimée, utilisant un ensemble d'atomes froids de Césium stock'es dans un piege magnéto-optique. Nos deux principaux objectifs étaient le développement d'une source de lumière non-classique, et le développement d'un milieu atomique pour le stockage de celle-ci. Tout d'abord, nous commençons par présenter la construction d'un oscillateur paramétrique optique qui utilise un cristal non-linéaire de PPKTP. Cet OPO fonctionne comme source d'états de vide comprime résonant avec la raie D2 du Césium. Nous caractérisons ces états grâce à une reconstruction par tomographie quantique, en utilisant une approche de vraisemblance maximale. Ensuite, nous examinons une nouvelle expérience qui nous permet d'utiliser comme milieu de stockage des atomes froids de Césium dans un piège magneto-optique récemment développé. Car cette expérience exige l'utilisation de nouveaux outils et techniques, nous discutons le développement de ceux-ci, et comment ils ont contribue à notre progression vers le stockage des états quantiques dans nos atomes des Césium, et finalement vers l'intrication de deux ensembles atomiques.

The primary study of this thesis is spin-nematic squeezing in a spin-1 condensate. The measurement of spin-nematic squeezing builds on the success of previous experiments of spin-mixing together with advances in low noise atom counting. The major contributions of this thesis are linking theoretical models to experimental results and the development of the intuition and tools to address the squeezed subspaces. Understanding how spin-nematic squeezing is generated and how to measure it has required a review of several theoretical models of spin-mixing as well as extending these existing models. This extension reveals that the squeezing is between quadratures of a spin moment and a nematic (quadrapole) moment in abstract subspaces of the SU(3) symmetry group of the spin-1 system. The identification of the subspaces within the SU(3) symmetry allowed the development of techniques using RF and microwave oscillating magnetic fields to manipulate the phase space in order to measure the spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-mixing from a classically meta-stable state, the phase space manipulation, and low noise atom counting form the core of the experiment to measure spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-nematic squeezing is also compared to its quantum optics analogue, two-mode squeezing generated by four-wave mixing. The other experimental study in this thesis is performing spin-dependent photo-association spectroscopy. Spin-mixing is known to depend on the difference of the strengths of the scattering channels of the atoms. Optical Feshbach resonances have been shown to be able to alter these scattering lengths but with prohibitive losses of atoms near the resonance. The possibility of using multiple nearby resonances from different scattering channels has been proposed to overcome this limitation. However there was no spectroscopy in the literature which analyzes for the different scattering channels of atoms for the same initial states. Through analysis of the initial atomic states, this thesis studies how the spin state of the atoms affects what photo-association resonances are available to the colliding atoms based on their scattering channel and how this affects the optical Feshbach resonances. From this analysis a prediction is made for the extent of alteration of spin-mixing achievable as well as the impact on the atom loss rate.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:07:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Paulo Estevao Weber.pdf: 2778005 bytes, checksum: 18a0fa4b6212e96fa01862634c242aa3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-07-20 / A feasible scheme for generating squeezed states of superposiçãao displaced in superconducting cavities is presented. The characteristics and properties, especially the non-classical, are studied by means of the Wigner function and Q parameter of Mandel. The probability of successful generation of such superposition are also considered. / Um esquema factível de geração de superposiçãao de estados comprimidos deslocados em cavidades supercondutoras é apresentado. As características e propriedades, em especial as não clássicas, são estudadas por meio da funcão de Wigner e parâmetro Q de Mandel. A probabilidade de sucesso de geracão de tal superposição também são consideradas.

Le déploiement de réseaux de communication quantique représente un défi auquel cette thèse apporte des solutions originales. Deux dispositifs très performants sont construits uniquement autour de composants standards de l'optique intégrée et des télécommunications optiques. Le premier correspond à un schéma de synchronisation tout optique sur longue distance à très haute cadence et de précision inégalée pour la communication sécurisée par cryptographie quantique. Le montage expérimental repose sur une configuration de relais quantique mettant en œuvre deux sources indépendantes de paires de photons intriqués dont il faut synchroniser les temps d'émissions. L’idée principale s’appuie sur l’utilisation d’un unique laser télécom picoseconde cadencé à 2.5 GHz afin de générer l’horloge et de pouvoir la distribuer efficacement aux deux sources. Nous démontrons la synchronisation de notre lien relais pour une distance effective séparant les sources de plus de 100 km. Le second dispositif correspond quant à lui à la réalisation d'une expérience de compression à une longueur d'onde des télécommunications réalisée, pour la première fois, de manière entièrement guidée. La lumière comprimée étant une ressource fondamentale dans bon nombre de protocoles d'information quantique, la réalisation de systèmes expérimentaux facilement reconfigurables et compatibles avec les réseaux télécoms fibrés existants représente une étape cruciale en vue du déploiement de dispositifs de communication quantique en régime de variables continues. Enfin, un traitement quantique des effets de gigue temporelle dans les détecteurs de photons 0N/0FF est proposé. Malgré l'importance des systèmes de détection dans les technologies quantiques photoniques émergentes, aucune modélisation quantique de leurs effets de gigue temporelle n'avait été, à notre connaissance, développé jusqu'à présent. / This thesis presents solutions to the challenges of developing quantum communication networks. Two powerful experimental devices have been set up relying only on standard telecom and integrated optical components. The first device corresponds to an all-optical synchronization scheme allowing, with an unprecedented accuracy, quantum key distribution at a high rate over long distances. The experimental scheme relies on two independent entangled photon pair sources that have to be synchronized in their emission time. Our approach is based on using a 2.5 GHz picosecond telecom laser as a master clock to efficiently synchronize the different sources. We demonstrate the synchronization for an effective distance of 100 km between sources. With our second device, we perform a squeezing experiment at telecom wavelengths and this for the first time in a fully guided-wave approach. Squeezed light being a fundamental resource for several quantum information protocols, developing plug-and-play experimental devices that are compatible with already existing telecom fiber networks is of first interest in the perspective of future quantum networks. Finally, we propose a quantum description of timing jitter effects in 0N/0FF detectors. Despite the importance of detection systems in emerging photonic quantum technologies, no quantum description of their timing jitter effects has been proposed so far.

Pour décrire les vibrations à l'intérieur des molécules diatomiques, le potentiel de Morse est une meilleure approximation que le système de l'oscillateur harmonique. Ainsi, en se basant sur la définition des états cohérents et comprimés donnée dans le cadre du problème de l'oscillateur harmonique, la première partie de ce travail suggère une construction des états cohérents et comprimés pour le potentiel de Morse. Deux types d’états seront construits et leurs différentes propriétés seront étudiées en portant une attention particulière aux trajectoires et aux dispersions afin de confirmer la quasi-classicité de ces états. La deuxième partie de ce travail propose d'insérer ces deux types d’états cohérents et comprimés de Morse dans un miroir semi-transparent afin d'introduire un nouveau moyen de créer de l'intrication. Cette intrication sera mesurée à l’aide de l’entropie linéaire et nous étudierons la dépendance par rapport aux paramètres de cohérence et de compression. / In order to describe the vibrations inside a diatomic molecule, the Morse potential is a better approximation than the harmonic oscillator system. Thus, based on the definition of the coherent states given in the context of the harmonic oscillator, the first part of this work suggests a construction for the squeezed coherent states of the Morse potential. Two types of states will be constructed and their diverse properties will be studied with special attention to the trajectories and dispersions in order to confirm their quasi-classicity. The second part of this work proposes to insert those two types of Morse squeezed coherent states in a beam splitter in order to introduce a new way of creating entanglement. This entanglement will be measured by the linear entropy and we will study the dependence with the coherence and squeezing parameters.

Pour décrire les vibrations à l'intérieur des molécules diatomiques, le potentiel de Morse est une meilleure approximation que le système de l'oscillateur harmonique. Ainsi, en se basant sur la définition des états cohérents et comprimés donnée dans le cadre du problème de l'oscillateur harmonique, la première partie de ce travail suggère une construction des états cohérents et comprimés pour le potentiel de Morse. Deux types d’états seront construits et leurs différentes propriétés seront étudiées en portant une attention particulière aux trajectoires et aux dispersions afin de confirmer la quasi-classicité de ces états. La deuxième partie de ce travail propose d'insérer ces deux types d’états cohérents et comprimés de Morse dans un miroir semi-transparent afin d'introduire un nouveau moyen de créer de l'intrication. Cette intrication sera mesurée à l’aide de l’entropie linéaire et nous étudierons la dépendance par rapport aux paramètres de cohérence et de compression. / In order to describe the vibrations inside a diatomic molecule, the Morse potential is a better approximation than the harmonic oscillator system. Thus, based on the definition of the coherent states given in the context of the harmonic oscillator, the first part of this work suggests a construction for the squeezed coherent states of the Morse potential. Two types of states will be constructed and their diverse properties will be studied with special attention to the trajectories and dispersions in order to confirm their quasi-classicity. The second part of this work proposes to insert those two types of Morse squeezed coherent states in a beam splitter in order to introduce a new way of creating entanglement. This entanglement will be measured by the linear entropy and we will study the dependence with the coherence and squeezing parameters.

Dans ce travail de thèse, je considère deux phénomènes distincts, tous deux liés aux interactions non-linéaires entre la lumière et des atomes. La première partie est dédiée à du mélange à 4 ondes basé sur des degrés de liberté internes d’atomes d’hélium à température ambiante, et l’utilise pour des processus d’amplification et de la génération d’états comprimés. Le second phénomène étudié est basé sur des degrés de liberté externes d’atomes de césium froids et est utilisé pour du stockage de lumière et la génération d’un champ conjugué en phase par mélange d’ondes. J'ai expérimentalement observé et caractérisé de l'amplification sensible à la phase par mélange à quatre ondes dans de l'hélium métastable à température ambiante. J'ai obtenu un gain maximum d'environ 9 dB avec une bande passante d'environ 300 kHz. Les fonctions de transfert phase/phase obtenues ont montré une forte compression de phase, indiquant que le phénomène était presque exempt de processus indésirables. Dans la seconde partie, j'explique comment les résonances de recul, dues à un transfert de quantité de mouvement entre un photon et un atome, peuvent être utilisées pour du stockage de lumière. J'explique également comment ce phénomène peut conduire à la génération d’un champ conjugué, et pourquoi la théorie existante ne permet pas de modéliser le creux qui apparaît dans le spectre de génération du champ conjugué lorsqu’on augmente la puissance optique. Pour reproduire ce nouvel élément, j’ai effectué un développement jusqu’au 5e ordre, qui démontre qu’il dépend de la cohérence qui est excitée entre des niveaux de moments atomiques différents. Je montre ensuite qu'un modèle plus simple, basé sur trois niveaux atomiques définis par des degrés de liberté interne et externe de l'atome, peut expliquer le phénomène observé. / In this PhD work, two distinct phenomena are considered, which are both related to non-linear interactions between light and atoms. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to four wave mixing based on the internal degrees of freedom of room temperature helium atoms and uses it for amplification processes and generation of squeezed light. The second studied process is based on external degrees of freedom of cold cesium atoms and used for light storage and phase conjugate field generation through multi-wave mixing. I experimentally observed and characterized phase sensitive amplification via four-wave mixing in metastable helium at room temperature. I have obtained about 9 dB of maximum gain with a bandwidth of about 300 kHz. The obtained phase transfer functions showed a strong phase squeezing, indicating that the phenomenon was almost free of unwanted processes. In the second part, I explain how recoil induced resonances, which are due to the transfer of momentum between a photon and an atom, can be used to store light. I also explain how this phenomenon can lead to generation of a phase conjugate field, and why the existing theory fails to model the dip, which appears in the phase conjugate generation spectrum when the field power is increased. I extend the model to the fifth order so that it can reproduce this new feature and demonstrate that it depends on the decay rate of the coherence, which is excited between atomic levels of different momenta. I then show that a simpler model, which is based on three levels defined by internal and external degrees of freedom of the atom, can explain the observed phenomenon.

<p dir="ltr">Quantum-enhanced approaches enable high-resolution imaging and sensing with signal-to-noise ratios beyond classical limits. However, operating in the quantum regime is highly susceptible to environmental influences and experimental conditions. Implementing these techniques necessitates highly controlled environments or intricate preparation methods, which can restrict their practical applications. This thesis explores the practical applications of quantum sensing, focusing on thermal sensing with bright quantum sources in biological and electronic contexts. Additionally, I discuss the development of a multimode source for quantum imaging applications and an on-chip atomic interface for scalable light-atom interactions. I built all the experimental setups from the beginning; a microscope setup for nanodiamond-based thermal sensing inside living cells, a four-wave mixing setup using a Rb cell for thermal imaging of microelectronics and multimode source, and a vacuum chamber for on-chip atomic interface.</p><p dir="ltr">Quantum sensing can be realized using atomic spins or optical photons possessing quantum information. Among these, color centers inside diamonds stand out as robust quantum spin defects (effective atomic spins), maintaining their quantum properties even in ambient conditions. In this thesis, I studied the role of an ensemble of color centers inside nanodiamonds as a probe of temperature in a living cell. Our approach involves incubating nanodiamonds in endothelial culture cells to achieve sub-kelvin sensitivity in temperature measurement. The results reveal a temperature error of 0.38 K and a sensitivity of 3.46 K/sqrt(Hz)<i> </i>after 83 seconds of measurement. Furthermore, I discuss the constraints of nanodiamond temperature sensing in living cells, propose strategies to surmount these limitations, and explore potential applications arising from such measurements.</p><p dir="ltr">Another ubiquitous quantum probe is light with quantum properties. Photons, the particles of light, can carry quantum correlations and have minimal interactions with each other and, to some extent, the environment. This capability theoretically allows for quantum-enhanced imaging or sensing of sample’s properties. In this thesis, I report on the demonstration of quantum-enhanced temperature sensing in microelectronics using bright quantum optical signals. I discuss the first demonstration of quantum thermal imaging used to identify hot spots and analyze heat transport in electronic systems.</p><p dir="ltr">To achieve this, we employed lock-in detection of thermoreflectivity, enabling us to measure temperature changes in a micro-wire induced by an electric current with an accuracy better than 0.04 degrees, averaged over 0.1 seconds. Our results demonstrate a nearly 50 % improvement in accuracy compared to using classical light at the same power, marking the first demonstration of below-shot-noise thermoreflectivity sensing. We applied this imaging technique to both aluminum and niobium-based circuits, achieving a thermal resolution of 42 mK during imaging. We scanned a 48 × 48 μm<i> </i>area with 3-4 dB squeezing compared to classical measurements. Based on these results, we infer possibility of generating a 256×256 pixel image with a temperature sensitivity of 42 mK within 10 minutes. This quantum thermoreflective imaging technique offers a more accurate method for detecting electronic hot spots and assessing heat distribution, and it may provide insights into the fundamental properties of electronic materials and superconductors.</p><p dir="ltr">In transitioning from single-mode to multimode quantum imaging, I conducted further research on techniques aimed at generating multimode quantum light. This involved an in-depth analysis of the correlation characteristics essential for utilizing quantum light sources in imaging applications. To achieve the desired multimode correlation regime, I developed a system centered on warm Rubidium vapor with nonlinear gain and feedback processes. The dynamics of optical nonlinearity in the presence of gain and feedback can lead to complexity, even chaos, in certain scenarios. Instabilities in temporal, spectral, spatial, or polarization aspects of optical fields may arise from chaotic responses within an optical <i>x</i>(2) or <i>x</i>(3) nonlinear medium positioned between two cavity mirrors or preceding a single feedback mirror. However, the complex mode dynamics, high-order correlations, and transitions to instability in such systems remain insufficiently understood.</p><p dir="ltr">In this study, we focused on a <i>x</i>(3) medium featuring an amplified four-wave mixing process, investigating noise and correlations among multiple optical modes. While individual modes displayed intensity fluctuations, we observed a reduction in relative intensity noise approaching the standard quantum limit, constrained by the camera speed. Remarkably, we recorded a relative noise reduction exceeding 20 dB and detected fourth-order intensity correlations among four spatial modes. Moreover, this process demonstrated the capability to generate over 100 distinct correlated quadruple modes.</p><p dir="ltr">In addition to conducting multimode analysis to develop a scalable imaging system, I have explored methodologies aimed at miniaturizing light-atom interactions on a chip for the scalable generation of quantum correlations. While warm atomic vapors have been utilized for generating or storing quantum correlations, they are plagued by challenges such as inhomogeneous broadening and low coherence time. Enhancing control over the velocity, location, and density of atomic gases could significantly improve light-atom interaction. Although laser cooling is a common technique for cooling and trapping atoms in a vacuum, its implementation in large-scale systems poses substantial challenges. As an alternative, I focused on developing an on-chip system integrated with atomic vapor controlled by surface acoustic waves (SAWs).</p><p dir="ltr">Surface acoustic waves are induced by an RF signal along the surface of a piezoelectric material and have already been proven to be effective for manipulating particles within microfluidic channels. Expanding upon this concept, I investigated the feasibility of employing a similar approach to manipulate atoms near the surface of a photonic circuit. The interaction between SAWs and warm atomic vapor is expected as a mechanism for controlling atomic gases in proximity to photonic chips for quantum applications. Through theoretical analysis spanning molecular dynamics and fluid dynamics regimes, I identified the experimental conditions necessary to observe acoustic wave behavior in atomic vapor. To validate this theory, I constructed an experiment comprising a vacuum chamber housing Rb atoms and a lithium niobate chip featuring interdigital transducers for launching SAWs. However, preliminary experimental results yielded no significant signals from SAW-atom interactions. Subsequent analysis revealed that observing such interactions requires sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) beyond the capabilities of the current setup. Multiple modifications, including increasing buffer gas pressure and mitigating RF cross-talk, are essential for conclusively observing and controlling these interactions.</p>

As redes ópticas estão passando por mudanças significativas, impulsionadas pelo crescimento exponencial do tráfego, principalmente advindo de serviços multimídia e armazenamento em nuvem. Esta demanda exigirá aumento da capacidade da taxa de transmissão para padrões como 400 Gb/s e 1 Tb/s. Nesse contexto, foi proposta uma arquitetura de rede com grade de frequências granular flexível chamada elastic optical network (EON). A EON divide o espectro de frequências em fatias (slots) de tamanho fixo e aloca grupos de slots contíguos estritamente de acordo com os requisitos de banda das demandas de conexão, implicando eficiência de uso do espectro. Com o aumento significativo da taxa de transmissão, acentuou-se a preocupação em manter a sobrevivência da rede, já que pouco tempo de queda no serviço pode acarretar uma imensa perda de dados. Neste trabalho, investigamos esquemas de proteção baseados em caminhos compartilhados (shared-path protection, SPP) e esquemas de restauração de tráfego. Avaliamos esquemas divulgados na literatura como o dynamic load balancing shared-path protection (DLBSPP) e esquemas de restauração como o traffic aware restoration (TAR) e bandwidth squeezed restoration (BSR). Avaliamos também uma heurística de alocação de slots chamada inverted dual stack (IDS). O DLBSPP utiliza balanceamento dinâmico de carga para computar os caminhos primários e de proteção compartilhados. O TAR executa a restauração dinâmica ordenando as conexões por granularidade de banda. O BSR utiliza a capacidade de contração de banda do EON para restaurar conexões por meio da política de melhor esforço ou de banda garantida, dependendo do acordo de níveis de serviço do cliente. O esquema IDS concentra o maior número possível de slots compartilhados em uma região do espectro. As medidas de desempenho dos algoritmos são avaliadas segundo as métricas: probabilidade de bloqueio, taxa de utilização do espectro, número médio de hops e taxa de restauração falha. As simulações computacionais mostram o bom desempenho da utilização do esquema IDS com DLBSPP. / Optical networks are undergoing significant changes driven by the exponentially growing traffic, especially coming from multimedia and cloud storage services. This demand will require increasing of the transmission rate capacity as high as 400 Gb/s and 1 Tb/s. Within this context, it was proposed the elastic optical network (EON), which is a network architecture with flexible granular frequency grid. EON divides the frequency spectrum into slices (slots) of fixed size and allocates groups of contiguous slots strictly according to the bandwidth requirement of the connection demands, providing high spectrum use efficiency. The significant increase in transmission rate put emphasis on the need to maintain the survival of the network, since the occurrence of faults in the network nodes or links can cause huge loss of data. In this work, we investigate protection schemes based on shared-path protection (SPP) and traffic restoration schemes. We evaluate schemes related in the literature, such as the dynamic load balancing shared-path protection (DLBSPP), and restoration schemes such as the traffic aware restoration (TAR) and the bandwidth squeezed restoration (BSR). The DLBP scheme uses dynamic load balancing to compute primary and shared protection paths. The TAR performs dynamic restoration ordering the connections based on band granularity. The BSR uses EON\'s band squeezing feature to restore connections by means of the best effort or guaranteed bandwidth strategy, depending on the customer\'s service level agreement. IDS scheme concentrates the maximum possible number of shared slots in a given region of the spectrum. Performance of the algorithms are evaluated according to metrics: blocking probability, spectrum utilization rate, average number of hops and failure restoration rate. Computer simulations show that the use of the IDS scheme improves the performance of the investigated algorithms.