Le contrôle de la température d'un milieu thermique reste d'une grande importance en raison du coût économique qu'il peut engendrer. Ainsi, un moyen efficace de réduire les coûts de chauffage/refroidissement est de fournir un bon système de contrôle qui limite l'énergie nécessaire pour exécuter ces tâches. À cette fin, nous étudierons le contrôle d'une interface diffusive homogène finie utilisant le contrôleur CRONE de trois générations et contrôlons leurs comportements. La nouveauté de ce travail existe dans l'utilisation d'un contrôleur de commande fractionnaire (le contrôleur CRONE) appliqué à une unité d'ordre fractionnaire et l'utilisation d'un contrôleur complexe (la troisième génération) qui n'est pas si familier dans le domaine des contrôleurs. Les résultats montrent le comportement et la robustesse des contrôleurs CRONE de trois générations. / Controlling thermal medium’s temperature remains of a great importance, because of the economic cost that it may engender. Thus, one effective way to reduce heating/cooling cost is by providing a good control system that limits power needed to run these tasks. For this purpose, we will study the control of a finite homogeneous diffusive interface using the three generations CRONE controller and control their behaviors. The novelty of this work exists in the use of a fractional order controller (the CRONE controller) applied to a fractional order plant and the use of a complex controller (the third generation) which is not so familiar in the controllers domain. The results show the behavior and the robustness of the three generations CRONE controllers.

Le tube à onde progressive (TOP) est un dispositif où un faisceau d’électrons se déplaçant sur l’axe d’une hélice interagit avec les ondes électromagnétiques propagées par cette hélice. Il est le siège de nombreuses instabilités : des oscillations (génération d’ondes hyperfréquences parasites), mais aussi des instabilités du faisceau qui ont pour conséquence une dissipation parasite due à l'interception du faisceau par l'hélice. L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer une formulation hamiltonienne au problème permettant des modèles approchés plus compacts, plus précis et plus complets. Après l'avoir exposée, nous présentons un schéma numérique contenant notre modèle discret pour la simulation du TOP. Ce modèle discret a été mis au point pour tenir compte des conditions d'adaptation et de changements de géométrie. Le couplage avec les électrons met en jeu des champs de base simples, et le modèle tient compte de la charge d'espace. Différentes méthodes d'intégration numérique sont développées, dont nous comparons l'efficacité. Nous comparons ce modèle discret avec divers modèles d'amplification des ondes à froid, dont le modèle actuellement utilisé chez Thales pour la conception des tubes ({texttt{MVTRAD}}). Nous montrons aussi que les modèles d'amplification des ondes à froid à deux ou trois dimensions comme {texttt{MVTRAD}} ou {texttt{BWIS}} (prenant en compte les ondes inverses) ne respectent pas nécessairement l'équation de Maxwell-Faraday, contrairement au nôtre. Enfin, nous comparons notre modèle discret de circuit et le modèle d'amplification des ondes à froid dans le cas d'un faisceau linéaire. / A traveling-wave tube (TWT) is a device where an electron beam traveling along the axis of a helix interacts with the electromagnetic waves propagated by this helix. It is sensitive to many instabilities : oscillators (generating noise microwave), but also beam instabilities that generate a noise dissipation due to the interception of the beam by the helix. The aim of this thesis is to find a Hamiltonian formulation of the problem to allow more compact, more accurate and more complete approximate models. Having found one, we start to develop a numerical scheme containing our discrete model for the simulation of TOP. This discrete model has been developed to take into account the tapering sections, geometry changes and adaptations. The coupling with electrons involves simple functions of space, and the model takes space charge into account. Different methods of numerical integration are developed, of which we compare the efficiency. We compared the discrete model with various cold waves amplification models, especially with the model currently used at Thales for the design of their tubes ({texttt{MVTRAD}}). Moreover, we showed that two- or three-dimensional cold wave amplification models like {texttt{MVTRAD}} or {texttt{BWIS}} (which takes into account the backward waves) fail to respect the Maxwell-Faraday equation, contrary to ours. Finally we made a comparison between our circuit discrete model and the amplification model of cold waves in the case of a linear beam.

Notre recherche porte sur la réponse optique des nanostructures et nous sommes certainement intéressés à la modélisation de ces structures afin d'améliorer le confinement de la lumière. Ce confinement est un des paramètres qui conduisent à l'exaltation des effets optique linéaires et non linéaires, simultanément. Notre travail est divisé en deux sections, qui présentent deux effets optiques diffèrents basées sur le confinement des champs à l’intérieur du structure. Dans la première section, la réponse optique d’une nano-antenne à ouverture en forme de nœud papillon (BNA : Bowtie nano-aperture) sera étudiée en fonction de l’indice de réfraction du milieu. L’étude discute la variation de la longueur d’onde de résonance ainsi que l’intensité du champ confiné au milieu du gap de la BNA en fonction de la distance qui sépare l’antenne d’un substrat placé en face. L’étude prend le cas d’une BNA gravée au bout d’une fibre optique métallisée. Une étude numérique complète a été réalisée par des simulations numériques basées sur la méthode des différences finies FDTD-3D (Finite Difference Time Domaine – Three dimension). Le code utilisé est développé au sein du département d’Optique de l’Institut FEMTO-ST. Notre modèle numérique décrits bien la géométrie de l’antenne ainsi que la pointe. De même les propriétés optiques de la couche métallique de la sonde sont bien décrites à travers un modèle de dispersion (model de Drude). Une étude expérimentale a été réalisée en plus pour une validation des résultats collecte théoriquement, l’étude a considéré le cas de deux BNA avec des paramètres géométrique différents, néanmoins les résultats obtenues se correspond fortement aux résultats obtenues numériquement. Dans la deuxième partie, l'effet électro-optique des nanostructures sera étudié. L’effet électro-optique ou effet Pockels consiste d’une variation linéaire de l'indice de réfraction d'un milieu non-linéaire en fonction d'un champ électrique extérieur. Cependant, la variation est reliée au tenseur de susceptibilité non linéaire du deuxième ordre, ainsi, cette effet ce produit seulement dans les matériaux non-centrosymétrique. Dans notre étude les nanostructures sont fabrique avec le Niobate de Lithium (LN) qui est considéré comme le plus avantageux diélectrique pour l’exaltation des effets non linéaire grâce à ces propriétés (acousto-optique, électro-optique, piézoélectrique …). L’étude est complétée numériquement garce a des simulations basées sur la FDTD en tenant compte de la polarisation du champ. Au début, une validation de l’utilisation de la FDTD pour estimer l’effet électro-optique intrinsèque du LN a été achevée, l’étude considère un milieu homogène (pas de confinement des champs dans le milieu) qui a pour indice de réfraction celle du LN. Pour des structure qui présentes un confinement du champ plusieurs approximation ont été suggère dans cette partie. En outre, nous présentons un nouveau modèle auto-cohérent dans lequel la variation de l'indice de réfraction est modifiée au cours de la simulation. Plusieurs structure ont été discutés (réflecteur de Bragg, structure à cavité et 2D cristal photonique) qui présentent des facteurs de confinement différents. Une étude comparative entre les différentes méthodes, montre que la différence entre les résultats de chaque hypothèse devient plus important proportionnellement au facteur de confinement. / Our research is concerned with the optical response of nano-structures by modeling them in order to enhance the confinement of light in these structures, which leads to the exaltation of linear and nonlinear optical effects.Our work is divided into two sections, which are based on the enhancement of the electric field inside the structure. In the first section, we study the optical properties of a Bowtie Nano-aperture, BNA, as a function of the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The study discusses the variation of the resonance wavelength and the intensity of the enhanced field in the gap of the BNA as a function of the distance from a sample placed in front of our BNA. The BNA is engraved at the apex of a metallic coated fiber tip. In this section a theoretical study was achieved using the Finite Difference Time Domain method FDTD in which we implement a Drude dispersion model to faithfully describe the optical properties of metals. In addition, a validating experimental study was achieved and a high accordance between both results is recorded.In the second section, the electro optical effect of nano-structures is studied. Electro-optical effect or Pockels effect is the variation of the refractive index of a nonlinear media as a function of an applied external electric field. The electro-optical effect is a linear variation of the media refractive index. However it is also related to the second order nonlinear susceptibility tensor, thus it becomes a nonlinear effect that only occurs in non-centrosymetric material. In our study we chose the case of a nano-structure fabricated with Lithium Niobate. Lithium Niobate is widely used in photonic applications due to its electro-optical, acousto-optical and nonlinear optical properties. We present a theoretical study of the electro-optical effects using the FDTD simulation method. We started by approving the ability to use the FDTD to calculate the refractive index variation in bulk Lithium Niobate then we suggest different approximations to estimate the refractive index variation when the light is confined inside the structure. In addition we suggest a new self-consistent method in which the variation of the refractive index is modified during the simulation. The study shows a comparison between different assumptions (used in previous research) and the self-consistent method for various structures, like Bragg reflectors, cavity structures and 2D photonic crystals. The study shows that the difference between the results of each assumption becomes greater when the optical confinement in the structure becomes more important.

This thesis describes the development of several spectroscopic methods based on impulsive vibrational spectroscopy as well as of the technique itself. The first chapter describes the ultrafast time domain Raman spectrometer including the development of two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers for sub-10 fs pulse generation with 343 or 515 nm pumping. In the first spectroscopic study we demonstrate, for the first time, that impulsive vibrational spectroscopy can be used for recording transient Raman spectra of molecules in excited electronic states. We obtain spectra of beta-carotene with comparable, or better, quality than established frequency domain based nonlinear Raman techniques. The following two chapters address the questions on the fate of vibrational coherences when generated on a reactive potential energy surface. We photoexcite bacteriorhodopsin and observe anharmonic coupling mediated vibrational coherence transfer to initially silent vibrational modes. Additionally, we are able to correlate the vibrational coherence activation with the efficiency of the isomerisation reaction in bR. Upon generation of vibrational coherence in the second excited electronic state of beta-carotene, by excitation from the ground electronic state, we are able to follow the wavepacket motion out of the Franck-Condon region. We observe vibrationally coherent internal conversion, through a conical intersection, into the first excited electronic state and are hence able to demonstrate that electronic surface crossings can occur in a vibrationally coherent fashion. Additionally, we find strong evidence for vibronic coupling mediated back and forth crossing between the two electronic states. As a combination of this work we develop a IVS based technique that allows for the direct recording of background and baseline free Raman spectra in the time domain. Several proof of principle experiments highlight the capabilities of this technique for time resolved Raman spectroscopy. In the final chapter we present work on weak-field coherent control. Here, we address the question of whether a photochemical reaction can be controlled by the phase term of an electric excitation field, in the one photon excitation limit. We study the systems rhodamine 101, bacteriorhodopsin, rhodopsin and isorhodopsin and, contrary to previous reports, find no evidence for one photon control.

The calculation of frequency-dependent cable parameters is essential for simulations of transient phenomena in electrical power systems. The simulation of transients is more complicated than the calculation of currents and voltages in the nominal frequency range. The model has to represent the frequency dependency and the wave propagation behavior of cable lines. The introduced model combines an improved subconductor method for the determination of the frequency-dependent parameters and a PI section wave propagation model. The subconductor method considers the skin and proximity effect in all conductors for frequency ranges up to few megahertz. The subconductor method method yields accurate results. The wave propagation part of the cable model is based on a cascaded PI section model. A modal transformation technique has been used for the calculation in the time domain. The frequency-dependent elements of the related modal transformation matrices have been fitted with rational functions. The frequency dependence of cable parameters has been reproduced using a vector fitting algorithm and has been implemented into an resistor-inductor-capacitor network (RLC network) for each PI section. The proposed full model has been validated with measured data.

Ultra wideband (UWB) technology plays a significant role in wireless communication. The complex antenna transfer function (CATF) of an UWB antenna provides important information required for better channel designs and communication systems. In this dissertation the CATF of a Double ridge guide horn (DRGH) antenna is determined and used as a standard antenna for UWB measurements. Two methods were used: the two antenna method in an anechoic chamber and a modified gain-transfer method in a compact antenna test range (CATR). Measurements were performed with a vector network analyser (VNA) in the frequency domain, in the anechoic chamber and the CATR. The distance measurements required to calculate the CATF from the S-parameter measurements were performed in the time domain. The CATF of the standard antenna was determined using two identical antennas and then it was shown that a modified gain-transfer method can be used to determine the CATF of any unknown antenna in a CATR, using the standard antenna as a reference. Some of the challenges were to obtain the correct equations and measurement method to obtain the CATF in a CATR. The standard antenna was used to investigate uncertainty contributions for the measurements in the CATR. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

This thesis introduces a topology optimization approach to design, from scratch, efficient microwave devices, such as antennas and waveguide transitions. The design of these devices is formulated as a general optimization problem that aims to build the whole layout of the device in order to extremize a chosen objective function. The objective function quantifies some required performance and is evaluated using numerical solutions to the 3D~Maxwell's equations by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The design variables are the local conductivity at each Yee~edge in a given design domain, and a gradient-based optimization method is used to solve the optimization problem. In all design problems, objective function gradients are computed based on solutions to adjoint-field problems, which are also FDTD discretization of Maxwell's equations but solved with different source excitations. For any number of design variables, the computation of the objective function gradient requires one solution to the original field problem and one solution to the associated adjoint-field problem. The optimization problem is solved iteratively using the globally convergent Method of Moving Asymptotes (GCMMA). By the proposed approach, various design problems, including tens of thousands of design variables, are formulated and solved in a few hundred iterations. Examples of solved design problems are the design of wideband antennas, dual-band microstrip antennas, wideband directive antennas, and wideband coaxial-to-waveguide transitions. The fact that the proposed approach allows a fine-grained control over the whole layout of such devices results in novel devices with favourable performance. The optimization results are successfully verified with a commercial software package. Moreover, some devices are fabricated and their performance is successfully validated by experiments.

La gamme des ondes terahertz (THz) se situe à l'interface des domaines électronique et optique. Malgré un potentiel d'applications élevé, elle souffre d'un manque de dispositifs performants. Dans ce cadre, cette thèse se concentre sur l'étude fondamentale et la réalisation de nouvelles fonctionnalités associées à différentes sources THz, en utilisant la spectroscopie THz dans le domaine temporel (TDS). Cet outil puissant permet de mesurer le profil temporel d'un champ électrique THz et est utilisé pour explorer l'émission THz de lasers à cascade quantique (LCQ) et de graphène.Dans une première partie, la réponse ultrarapide de LCQs est étudiée. Un contrôle de la phase du champ électrique de LCQs THz via la technique "d'injection seeding" est réalisé puis optimisé. Il nous permet de mesurer le profil temporel de l'émission laser. A l'appui de cette expérience et de simulations, une description quantitative de la dynamique du gain est faite. Ces informations sont critiques pour la production d'impulsions courtes. Une modulation rapide du gain de LCQ est ensuite réalisée et conduit à la génération d'impulsions courtes (durée ~ 15 ps) en régime de blocage de modes. Ces études permettent notamment d'envisager les LCQs comme sources puissantes pour la TDS. Dans une seconde partie, nous montrons que le graphène peut émettre un rayonnement THz sous excitation optique par un effet non linéaire d'ordre 2. Cette émission résulte d'un transfert de quantité de mouvement des photons aux électrons du graphène ("photon drag"). Elle permet ainsi d'explorer des propriétés subtiles du graphène, telles que de très faibles différences de comportement entre les électrons et trous photogénérés. / The terahertz (THz) range is a region of the electromagnetic spectrum which lies at the limit between the electronic and optical domain. Currently, THz applications suffer from the lack of sources and detectors. In this context, this thesis focuses on the fundamental study and the development of new functionalities of different THz sources, usingTHz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) as a base. This powerful tool enables to acquire the temporal profile of a THz electric field and is used to explore the THz emission properties of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and graphene.In the first part, the ultrafast response of QCLs is investigated. A phase control of the electric field of THz QCLs via injection seeding is realised and optimised. This enables the measurement of the amplitude and temporal profile of the laser emission. Throughthese experiments and simulations, a quantitative description of the gain dynamics can be accessed. This information is critical for modelocking. Finally, a fast modulation of the gain of QCLs is realized and leads to short pulses generation (15 ps) in a modelocked regime. These studies open the way for using QCLs as powerful sources in TDS.In the second part, THz radiation generation from graphene under optical excitation is demonstrated by a second order non-linear process. The THz emission results from themomentum transfer from the photons to the electrons of graphene (photon drag). As well as broadband THz generation, novel bandstructure properties of graphene can be explored such as the different dynamics between the photogenerated electrons and holes.

The efficiency of the conventional, explicit finite difference time domain (FDTD)method is constrained by the upper limit on the temporal discretization, imposed by the Courant–Friedrich–Lewy (CFL) stability condition. Therefore, there is a growing interest in overcoming this limitation by employing unconditionally stable FDTD methods for which time-step and space-step can be independently chosen. Unconditionally stable Crank Nicolson method has not been widely used in time domain electromagnetics despite its high accuracy and low anisotropy. There has been no work on the Crank Nicolson FDTD (CN–FDTD) method for frequency dependent medium. In this thesis a new three-dimensional frequency dependent CN–FDTD (FD–CN–FDTD) method is proposed. Frequency dependency of single–pole Debye materials is incorporated into the CN–FDTD method by means of an auxiliary differential formulation. In order to provide a convenient and straightforward algorithm, Mur’s first-order absorbing boundary conditions are used in the FD–CN–FDTD method. Numerical tests validate and confirm that the FD–CN–FDTD method is unconditionally stable beyond the CFL limit. The proposed method yields a sparse system of linear equations which can be solved by direct or iterative methods, but numerical experiments demonstrate that for large problems of practical importance iterative solvers are to be used. The FD–CN–FDTD sparse matrix is diagonally dominant when the time-stepis near the CFL limit but the diagonal dominance of the matrix deteriorates with the increase of the time-step, making the solution time longer. Selection of the matrix solver to handle the FD–CN–FDTD sparse system is crucial to fully harness the advantages of using larger time-step, because the computational costs associated with the solver must be kept as low as possible. Two best–known iterative solvers, Bi-Conjugate Gradient Stabilised (BiCGStab) and Generalised Minimal Residual (GMRES), are extensively studied in terms of the number of iteration requirements for convergence, CPU time and memory requirements. BiCGStab outperforms GMRES in every aspect. Many of these findings do not match with the existing literature on frequency–independent CN–FDTD method and the possible reasons for this are pointed out. The proposed method is coded in Fortran and major implementation techniques of the serial code as well as its parallel implementation in Open Multi-Processing (OpenMP) are presented. As an application, a simulation model of the human body is developed in the FD–CN–FDTD method and numerical simulation of the electromagnetic wave propagation inside the human head is shown. Finally, this thesis presents a new method modifying the frequency dependent alternating direction implicit FDTD (FD–ADI–FDTD) method. Although the ADI–FDTD method provides a computationally affordable approximation of the CN–FDTD method, it exhibits a loss of accuracy with respect to the CN-FDTD method which may become severe for some practical applications. The modified FD–ADI–FDTD method can improve the accuracy of the normal FD–ADI–FDTD method without significantly increasing the computational costs.

Tall buildings are wind-sensitive structures and could experience high wind-induced effects. Aerodynamic boundary layer wind tunnel testing has been the most commonly used method for estimating wind effects on tall buildings. Design wind effects on tall buildings are estimated through analytical processing of the data obtained from aerodynamic wind tunnel tests. Even though it is widely agreed that the data obtained from wind tunnel testing is fairly reliable the post-test analytical procedures are still argued to have remarkable uncertainties. This research work attempted to assess the uncertainties occurring at different stages of the post-test analytical procedures in detail and suggest improved techniques for reducing the uncertainties. Results of the study showed that traditionally used simplifying approximations, particularly in the frequency domain approach, could cause significant uncertainties in estimating aerodynamic wind-induced responses. Based on identified shortcomings, a more accurate dual aerodynamic data analysis framework which works in the frequency and time domains was developed. The comprehensive analysis framework allows estimating modal, resultant and peak values of various wind-induced responses of a tall building more accurately. Estimating design wind effects on tall buildings also requires synthesizing the wind tunnel data with local climatological data of the study site. A novel copula based approach was developed for accurately synthesizing aerodynamic and climatological data up on investigating the causes of significant uncertainties in currently used synthesizing techniques. Improvement of the new approach over the existing techniques was also illustrated with a case study on a 50 story building. At last, a practical dynamic optimization approach was suggested for tuning structural properties of tall buildings towards attaining optimum performance against wind loads with less number of design iterations.