The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of meridional blur, using refractive induced astigmatism, on visual performance at far and close distances. Visual performance was evaluated using letter discrimination tasks at distance and near (visual acuity, VA) and a reading task at near on subjects with pharmacologically blocked (young) or absent accommodation (presbyopic and pseudophakic). The effect of astigmatism was tested using positive cylindrical lenses oriented at 180 and 90 degrees, these simulating with- (WTR) and against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism. Other refractive status were also evaluated, namely, in-focus and spherical defocus. The visual performance data were correlated with biometric measurements (pupil size, anterior chamber depth (ACD), corneal and ocular aberrations, corneal multifocality, patient age, axial length). Further, the functionality of meridional blur was evaluated for alphabets in addition to the standard Roman alphabet using a VA task. The results confirm that myopic astigmatism contributes to a better visual performance at closer distances, with ATR astigmatism providing higher performance for reading tasks compared to other forms of astigmatism. Anatomical factors such as pupil size, corneal multifocality and ACD were significantly correlated visual performance, while other ocular characteristics were not. Ray tracing modelling using wavefront data was a moderate predictor of VA and reading acuity. The results of the effect of meridional blur orientation on alphabets other than the Roman alphabet, suggest that visual performance is dependent on the interaction between blur orientation and letter¿s spatial characteristics. In conclusion, pseudoaccommodation is a multifactorial phenomenon with pupil size being the major contributor for the improvement in visual performance. Against-the-rule shows advantages over WTR astigmatism, by providing higher reading performance, however extending the present and previous findings for clinical application will require further investigation on the effect of meridional blur in common and socio-culturally adapted tasks. / Bradford School of Optometry and Vision Sciences

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The two main themes in this thesis are the implementation of interference methods with optically trapped particles for measurements of position and optical phase (optical interferometric metrology) and the optical manipulation of nanoparticles for studies in the assembly of nanostructures, nanoscale heating and nonlinear optics (nanophotonics). The first part of the thesis (chapter 1, 2) provides an introductory overview to optical trapping and describes the basic experimental instrument used in the thesis respectively. The second part of the thesis (chapters 3 to 5) investigates the use of optical interferometric patterns of the diffracting light fields from optically trapped microparticles for three types of measurements: calibrating particle positions in an optical trap, determining the stiffness of an optical trap and measuring the change in phase or coherence of a given light field. The third part of the thesis (chapters 6 to 8) studies the interactions between optical traps and nanoparticles in three separate experiments: the optical manipulation of dielectric enhanced semiconductor nanoparticles, heating of optically trapped gold nanoparticles and collective optical response from an ensemble of optically trapped dielectric nanoparticles.

Cette thèse a pour but d'étudier l'utilisation d'un analyseur de front d'onde basé sur l'interférométrie à décalage quadri-latéral pour l'imagerie microscopique en transmission. Cette technique d'interférométrie, développée initialement par la société Phasics (Palaiseau) pour les marchés de la métrologie optique et de la caractérisation de faisceaux laser essentiellement, peut aussi permettre d'obtenir la cartographie d'un champ électromagnétique complexe par mesure de front d'onde. En l'utilisant sur un microscope en condition d'imagerie, nous avons obtenu des images de l'intensité et de la différence de chemin optique introduite par un échantillon semi-transparent, définissant ainsi une nouvelle technique de contraste de phase quantitatif. Il s'agit d'un travail codirigé entre l'Institut Fresnel et l'entreprise Phasics (convention CIFRE), mené en collaboration avec le Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille Luminy. Dans cette thèse, nous discutons dans un premier temps de l'utilisation de l'analyseur en tant que détecteur placé dans le plan image d'un microscope optique classique, puis nous considérons deux modèles pour la formation des images de différence de chemin optique. Le premier modèle, dit projectif dans l'espace objet, suppose une mesure directe par l'analyseur de la différence de chemin optique locale introduite par l'échantillon. Nous montrons que cette hypothèse est valable pour deux applications particulières : la détermination de la quantité de matière sèche au sein d'un échantillon biologique, et la cartographie de la distribution de température induite par échauffement de particules d'or dans le plan objet du microscope. Le deuxième modèle prend en compte les effets de diffraction simple par l'échantillon et de filtrage par le système d'imagerie, en considérant l'angle sous lequel l'échantillon est illuminé. / The aim of this thesis is the use of a quadriwave lateral shearing interferometer for transmission microscopic imaging. First developped for optical metrology and laser beam caracterisation by the Phasics company (Palaiseau), this interferometric technique gives complexe electromagnetic field cartography by wavefront sensing. Using a microscope in imaging conditions, we obtained intensity and optical path difference images introduced by a semi-transparent sample. Thereby, we defined a new quantitative phase contrast technique.This work is co-directed by the Fresnel Institute and the Phasics company (CIFRE convention), in collaboration with the Centre Immunologique de Marseille Luminy. In this thesis, first we discuss the wavefront sensor use as a sensor plugged on the classical optical microscope image plane ; then we consider two models for optical path difference image formation. The first one, named object space projection, supposes a direct measurement of the optical path difference introduced by a sample. We show that this hypothesis is valid for two particular applications : dry matter determination within a biological sample, and temperature distribution induced by gold nano-particule heating. Thesecond model takes into account the simple sample diffraction and the optical device filtering depending on the illumination angle. This second approach allows us to build a model for intensity and optical path difference image formation for any planewave illumination. So we studied the image formation from a spatially partial incoherent illumination to a complete incoherent illumination. We made electromagnetic field measurements with the wavefront sensor in this last case. Then we discuss semi-transparent tomographic reconstruction by measurements in different imaging planes.One chapter is dedicated to quantitative phase imaging in biology, in particular with mitotic index determination within a cell population.

Les télécommunications laser en espace libre sont limitées en portée par la turbulence atmosphérique. L'optique adaptative, par la correction de la phase turbulente à l'émission du faisceau, a permis d'étendre leur domaine d'exploitation.Toutefois, sur de longues distances de propagation, cette correction n'est plus suffisante et il faut également précompenser l'amplitude du faisceau émis. De premières études numériques ont montré que le principe de retournement temporel, ou plus exactement de conjugaison de phase bidirectionnelle itérative, conduirait à des conditions satisfaisantes de focalisation du faisceau laser en fort régime de turbulence.Le principe de conjugaison de phase n'ayant été étudié que théoriquement jusque-là, mon travail de thèse s'est attaché à mettre en oeuvre un démonstrateur expérimental pour quantifier les performances de cette technique dans des conditions maîtrisées. En parallèle, une simulation de bout en bout de l'expérience a permis d'évaluer l'influence d'erreurs d'étalonnage sur les performances finales de la correction et de valider les résultats expérimentaux obtenus. Les points durs de la mise en oeuvre d'un système de télécommunications laser en espace libre ont ainsi été identifiés.L'ensemble de ces travaux constitue la toute première démonstration expérimentale du principe de retournement temporel optique. D'autres domaines d'application comme les lasers de puissance ou la propagation à travers des milieux biologiques très diffusants, nécessitant également de corriger le faisceau à l'émission, sont concernés. / Free Space Optical communications (FSO) are range limited due to atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics can mitigate turbulence effects by adding a phase modulation on the emitted laser beam. However, both phase and amplitude modulation are needed to perform long range FSO. Previous numerical studies have shown that iterative phase conjugation is an efficient modulation technique for lasercom systems.This PhD thesis is dedicated to the development and the realization of the first experimental demonstration of the iterative phase conjugation principle in a controlled turbulence environment. An optical bench, representative of a long range propagation through strong turbulence, has been scaled down to few-meters propagation in visible.Several methods for complex field measurement and modulation are numerically studied. Selected methods are implemented and tested, such as a novel focal plane technique for complex field measurement. Finally, iterative phase conjugation is performed and results cross-correlated with an end-to-end model representative of the optical bench.This work is the first experimental demonstration of the optical phase conjugation principle. Applications can be found in other fields than lasercoms, such as high power lasers or propagation through highly diffusing biological tissues, both in need of laser emission modulation.

Oceanic waves registered by satellite observations often have curvilinear fronts and propagate over various currents. In this thesis, we study long linear and weakly-nonlinear ring waves in a stratified fluid in the presence of a depth-dependent horizontal shear flow. It is shown that despite the clashing geometries of the waves and the shear flow, there exists a linear modal decomposition, which can be used to describe distortion of the wavefronts of surface and internal waves, and systematically derive a 2+1-dimensional cylindrical Korteweg-de Vries (cKdV)-type equation for the amplitudes of the waves. The general theory is applied to the case of the waves in a two-layer fluid with a piecewise-constant shear flow, with an emphasis on the effect of the shear flow on the geometry of the wavefronts. The distortion of the wavefronts is described by the singular solution (envelope of the general solution) of the nonlinear first order differential equation, constituting generalisation of the dispersion relation in this curvilinear geometry. There exists a striking difference in the shape of the wavefronts: the wavefront of the surface wave is elongated in the shear flow direction while the wavefront of the interfacial wave is squeezed in this direction. We solve the derived 2+1-dimensional cKdV-type equation numerically using a finite-difference scheme. The effects of nonlinearity and dispersion are studied by considering numerical results for surface and interfacial ring waves generated from a localised source with and without shear flow and the 2D dam break problem. In these examples, the linear and nonlinear surface waves are faster than interfacial waves, the wave height decreases faster at the surface, the shear flow leads to the wave height decreasing slower downstream and faster upstream, and the effect becomes more prominent as the shear flow strengthens.

La microscopie par diffusion Raman cohérente anti-Stokes (CARS) est une technique de spectro-imagerie qui permet de cartographier les modes vibrationnels intra-moléculaires d'un échantillon biologique, sans nécessité de marquage préalable. La mesure CARS est cependant dégradée par un "fond non-résonant" qui détériore le contraste. Récemment, la microscopie par diffusion Raman stimulée (SRS) fut proposée comme une alternative à la microscopie CARS, permettant d'obtenir une imagerie "sur fond noir". Dans cette thèse, nous décrivons le développement d'un microscope SRS. Nous évaluons le caractère spécifique des contrastes CARS et SRS dans le cadre d'une application biomédicale concrète, à savoir la détection de mélanomes humains. Nous présentons une description exhaustive des phénomènes physiques pouvant conduire à des artéfacts de mesure en SRS. Nous proposons finalement une technique basée sur l'utilisation de trois faisceaux d'excitation à trois couleurs, permettant de supprimer ces artéfacts. Dans une seconde partie, nous nous intéressons à la microscopie CARS en configuration plein champ. Nous proposons une méthode permettant de supprimer le fond non-résonant. Celle-ci est basée sur une analyse de front d'onde du champ anti-Stokes. En guise d'ouverture, nous proposons une technique - toujours basée sur l'analyse de front d'onde - permettant de réaliser la spectroscopie d'absorption quantitative de nano-objets. Nous illustrons le potentiel de cette technique en réalisant des mesures sur des matrices de nanoparticules d'or et sur des nanoparticules uniques. / Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) microscopy is a technique that can map the spatial distribution of intra-molecular vibrational modes of a biological sample. This method thus provides molecular specificity, without staining the sample. However, CARS signal is hampered by a "non-resonant background" which reduces the contrast. Recently, Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) microscopy has been proposed as an alternative to CARS microscopy because it is a background free method. In this thesis, we describe the development of a SRS microscope. We evaluate the specificity of CARS and SRS contrasts in a concrete biomedical application, the detection of human melanomas. We present a comprehensive description of the physical phenomena that can lead to artifacts in SRS microscopy. We show that the scattering properties of the sample can lead to artifacts. We propose a technique based on three excitation beams of different color which suppresses these artifacts. In the second part, we focus on CARS microscopy in a wide-field configuration. We implement a technique to remove the non-resonant background. This method is based on wavefront sensing of the anti-Stokes Field by quadriwave lateral sharing interferometry (QWLSI). We demonstrate that the measurement of the intensity and phase of the complex CARS field allows to retrieve the spontaneous Raman scattering spectrum. As a perspective, we propose a technique, still based on wavefront sensing by QWLSI, to achieve quantitative absorption spectroscopy of nano-objects. We illustrate the potential of this technique by performing measurements on arrays of gold nanoparticles and on single nanoparticles.

Parmi les 3000 exoplanètes détectées à ce jour, seule une cinquantaine ont été observées par imagerie dont l’avantage est de donner accès à la lumière des exoplanètes, ce qui ouvre la voie aux études spectrales de leur atmosphère et de leur surface. L’imagerie est aussi la seule méthode permettant d’étudier des exoplanètes situées dans les parties externes des systèmes stellaires ainsi que les disques circumstellaires, ce qui est fondamental pour comprendre les différentes étapes de la formation planétaires. Cependant, ces techniques doivent relever deux défis : la faible séparation angulaire qui existe entre une exoplanète et son étoile, ainsi que le contraste entre ces deux objets qui est de l’ordre de 10-4 dans l'infrarouge proche pour des Jupiter jeunes et de l'ordre de 10-10 dans le visible pour des planètes matures telles la Terre et Jupiter. Les instruments actuels utilisent des coronographes pour filtrer la lumière de l'étoile hôte et observer son voisinage ténu. Ils utilisent également des techniques actives qui compensent les effets des aberrations de surface d’onde pour minimiser le niveau des tavelures dans l'image finale. Couplés à des techniques d'imagerie différentielle, ces instruments ont permis la découverte et l'étude d'exoplanètes jeunes et massives, et de disques circumstellaires. Cependant, pour détecter des exoplanètes moins lumineuses et plus proches de leur étoile, les techniques d’imagerie font aujourd’hui l’objet d'une recherche active en laboratoire. Par exemple, l’Observatoire de Paris a développé le banc très haute dynamique (THD) pour tester et optimiser l’association de plusieurs techniques d’imagerie haute dynamique comme le four quadrants phase masque (FQPM) ou la self-coherent camera (SCC) qui est une technique d’analyse de surface d’onde en plan focal.Au début de ma thèse, mes travaux se sont concentrés sur le développement et l’étude de coronographes et d’analyseurs en plan focal pouvant travailler en larges bandes spectrales (typiquement 12,5 % à 40 %). J’ai testé sur le banc THD deux coronographes, le multi four-quadrant phase-mask (MFQPM) et le dual-zone phase-mask (DZPM). J’ai prouvé que le DZPM peut atteindre des contrastes de l’ordre de 4 10-8 pour des séparations angulaires comprises entre 7 et 16 λ/D et une bande spectrale de 250 nm centrée à 640 nm. J’ai également développé et testé une version de la SCC moins sensible au chromatisme appelée multireference self-coherent camera (MRSCC). En la combinant au DZPM, j’ai réussi à atteindre en boucle fermée des contrastes de l’ordre de 4.5 10-8 entre 5 et 17 λ/D pour une bande spectrale de 80 nm centrée à 640 nm. Ces deux résultats sont importants, car ils montrent qu'il est possible de construire un instrument qui atténue la lumière et contrôle activement les aberrations optiques directement à partir de l'image scientifique en large bande spectrale. À la fin de ma thèse, nous avons mis en place une collaboration visant à tester la SCC sur le télescope Hale du mont Palomar. Lors de deux missions auxquelles j’ai participé, nous avons prouvé que la SCC pouvait être associée avec un coronographe de type vortex ce qui n’avait jamais était fait auparavant. De plus, suite aux résultats obtenus sur source interne, nous prévoyons une démonstration sur ciel à l'automne 2016 / Among the 3000 exoplanets detected at this time, about 50 have been observed by direct imaging. The benefit of direct imaging is to give access to exoplanet light, paving the way for spectroscopic study of their atmospheres and surfaces. Moreover, direct imaging is also the only method that enables the study of exoplanets located in the outer parts of the stellar systems as well as circumstellar disks, which are fundamental to understand the different stages of planetary formation. However, there are two challenges : the small angular separation between an exoplanet and its star (less than a fraction of 1’’), and the contrast between the two objects which is of the order of 10-4 in near infrared for young Jupiter and of the order of 10-10 in visible light for Earth like planets. Existing instruments use coronagraphs to filter light from the host star and observe its tenuous neighborhood. They also use active techniques in order to minimize, in the final image, the brightness of speckles induced by wavefront aberrations. Coupled with differential imaging techniques, these instruments led to the discovery and study of young and massive exoplanets and circumstellar disks. However, to detect fainter exoplanets closer to their star, imaging techniques are now at the heart of an active research. For example, the Paris Observatory developed the banc très haute dynamique (THD bench) aiming at testing several high contrast imaging techniques and their associations as the four quadrants phase masque (FQPM) and the self-coherent camera (SCC) which is a focal plane wavefront sensor.At the beginning of my PHD, I mainly focused my work on the development and the study of coronagraphs and focal plane wavefront sensors able to work in broadband (between 12,5 % and 40 %). I tested on the THD bench two coronagraphs, the multi four-quadrant phase-mask (MFQPM) and the dual-zone phase-mask (DZPM). I proved that the DZPM is able to reach contrasts of 4 10-8 at angular separations ranging from 7 to 16 λ/D using a spectral bandwidth of 250 nm centered on 640 nm (40 %). I also developed and tested a new version of the SCC, less sensitive to chromatism, called the multireference self-coherent camera (MRSCC). By combining both DZPM and MRSCC, I reached in closed loop contrasts of 4.5 10-8 between 5 and 17 λ/D for a spectral bandwidth of 80 nm centered on 640 nm (12,5 %). These two results are important because they show that it is possible to build an instrument able to reduce the stellar light and actively control optical aberrations directly from a scientific image registered in a large spectral bandwidth which is requiered for the next generation of instruments. During my PHD, we also strated a collaboration to install the SCC at the Palomar Observatory. During two missions in which I took part, we proved, for the first time, that the SCC can be associated with a vortex coronagraph. Finally, based on these results, we plan to demonstrate the SCC concept on sky in the fall of this year

The ongoing merger of the digital and optical components of the modern microscope is creating opportunities for new measurement techniques, along with new challenges for optical modelling. This thesis investigates several such opportunities and challenges which are particularly relevant to biomedical imaging. Fourier optics is used throughout the thesis as the underlying conceptual model, with a particular emphasis on three--dimensional Fourier optics. A new challenge for optical modelling provided by digital microscopy is the relaxation of traditional symmetry constraints on optical design. An extension of optical transfer function theory to deal with arbitrary lens pupil functions is presented in this thesis. This is used to chart the 3D vectorial structure of the spatial frequency spectrum of the intensity in the focal region of a high aperture lens when illuminated by linearly polarised beam. Wavefront coding has been used successfully in paraxial imaging systems to extend the depth of field. This is achieved by controlling the pupil phase with a cubic phase mask, and thereby balancing optical behaviour with digital processing. In this thesis I present a high aperture vectorial model for focusing with a cubic phase mask, and compare it with results calculated using the paraxial approximation. The effect of a refractive index change is also explored. High aperture measurements of the point spread function are reported, along with experimental confirmation of high aperture extended depth of field imaging of a biological specimen. Differential interference contrast is a popular method for imaging phase changes in otherwise transparent biological specimens. In this thesis I report on a new isotropic algorithm for retrieving the phase from differential interference contrast images of the phase gradient, using phase shifting, two directions of shear, and non--iterative Fourier phase integration incorporating a modified spiral phase transform. This method does not assume that the specimen has a constant amplitude. A simulation is presented which demonstrates good agreement between the retrieved phase and the phase of the simulated object, with excellent immunity to imaging noise.

In this paper, we present a nonlinear curvelet-based sparsity-promoting formulation for three problems in seismic processing and imaging namely, seismic data regularization from data with large percentages of traces missing; seismic amplitude recovery for subsalt images obtained by reverse-time migration and primary-multiple separation, given an inaccurate multiple prediction. We argue why these nonlinear formulations are beneficial.