Intrinsic randomness in non-local theories: quantification and amplification 

Dhara, Chirag (Date of defense: 2013-06-12)

Quantum mechanics was developed as a response to the inadequacy of classical physics in explaining certain physical phenomena. While it has proved immensely successful, it also presents several features that severely ...

Active control of surface plasmons in hybrid nanostructures 

Randhawa, Sukanya (Date of defense: 2012-12-04)

Plasmonics nanostructures are becoming remarkably important as tools towards manipulating photons at the nanoscale. They are poised to revolutionize a wide range of applications ranging from integrated optical circuits, ...

Ultracold atoms in artificial gauge fields 

Grass, Tobias (Date of defense: 2013-04-23)

The present thesis studies a variety of cold atomic systems in artificial gauge fields. In the first part we focus on fractional quantum Hall effects, asking whether interesting topological states can be realized with cold ...

Integrated photonic transmitters for secure space quantum communication 

Jofre Cruanyes, Marc (Date of defense: 2013-04-15)

An important issue in today's information society is the security of data transmission against potential intruders, which always put at risk the confidentiality. Current methods to increase security require that the two ...

Quantum simulations with ultracold atoms: beyond standard optical lattices 

Hauke, Philipp Hans-Jürgen (Date of defense: 2013-04-05)

Many outstanding problems in quantum physics, such as high-Tc superconductivity or quark confinement, are still - after decades of research - awaiting commonly accepted explanations. One reason is that such systems are ...

Strategies for pushing nonlinear microscopy towards its performance limits 

Aviles-Espinosa, Rodrigo (Date of defense: 2013-03-27)

The requirement for imaging living structures with higher contrast and resolution has been covered by the inherent advantages offered by nonlinear microscopy (NLM). However, to achieve its full potential there are still ...

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices with long-range interactions and periodic driving 

Tieleman, Olivier (Date of defense: 2013-03-08)

This thesis contains theoretical research on ultracold quantum gases in spatially periodic potentials, featuring high-frequency periodic driving, long-range interactions, or both. The largest part features deep potentials ...

Entanglement and non local correlations: quantum resources for information processing 

Prettico, Giuseppe (Date of defense: 2013-01-18)

Quantum Information Theory (QIT) studies how information can be processed and transmitted when encoded on quantum states. Practically, it can be understood as the effort to generalize Classical Information Theory to the ...

Localized surface plasmon resonance for biosensing lab-on-a-chip applications 

Acomovic, Srdjan S. (Date of defense: 2012-10-30)

In recent times, metallic nanoparticle plasmonics coupled with applications towards biosensing has gathered momentum to the point where commercial R&D are investing large resources in developing the so-called localized ...

Mechanochemical study of single living cells and biomolecules combining optical tweezers and raman spectroscopy 

Raj, Saurabh (Date of defense: 2012-11-05)

This thesis is devoted to the study of mechanochemistry of single cells and single biomolecules. Mechanochemistry relates to the association of mechanical and chemical occurrence at the molecular level. Using a combination ...

Device-independent information protocols: measuring dimensionality, randomness and nonlocality 

Gallego López, Rodrigo (Date of defense: 2013-02-22)

The device-independent formalism is a set of tools to analyze experimental data and infer properties about systems, while avoiding almost any assumption about the functioning of devices. It has found applications both in ...

Atomic quantum metrology with narrowband entangled and squeezed states of light 

Wolfgramm, Florian (Date of defense: 2012-06-29)

The use of light, especially of laser light, is in many cases the most sensitive way to perform measurements. However, the highest sensitivity that can be achieved with laser light as probe is bounded by the standard quantum ...

Nanoscale Coherent Control. Ultrafast dynamics of single molecules, individual light harvesting complexes and discrete nanoantennas at room temperature. 

Brinks, Daan (Date of defense: 2012-10-19)

Ultrafast pulses allow observation of molecular dynamics with femtosecond time resolution through pump probe experiments. However, averaging over an ensemble of molecules tends to wash out phase sensitive information, ...

Control of optical fields and single photon emitters by advanced nanoantenna structures 

Neumann, Lars (Date of defense: 2012-04-18)

Un tema central en la ciencia y la tecnología es la exploración y explotación de sistemas cada vez más pequeños por medio de técnicas ópticas. A menudo, la longitud de onda viene dictada por el sistema de interés: los ...

Nanoscale spatial control of light in optical antennas 

Volpe, Giorgio (Date of defense: 2012-05-10)

El control dinámico y determinístico de la luz en una escala espacial por debajo de la longitud de onda es un requisito clave para ampliar los conceptos y las funcionalidades de la macro-óptica hasta la escala nanométrica. ...

High-power, fiber-laser-pumped optical parametric oscillators from the visible to mid-infrared 

Chaitanya Kumar, Suddapalli (Date of defense: 2012-01-18)

High-power, continuous-wave (cw), mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser sources are of interest for variety of applications such as trace gas detection and remote sensing, which require broad spectral coverage to address the most ...

Micro-structured ferroelectric superlattice for efficient acousto-optic devices 

Yudistira, Didit (Date of defense: 2012-02-21)

In this thesis we have investigated and proposed acoustic superLattices (ASLs) made of periodically poled ZX-cut lithium niobate (PPLN) associated ith coplanar electrodes as an effective alternative for surface acoustic ...

Micro-nano structured electro-optic devices in LiNbO3 for communication and sensing 

Tulli, Domenico (Date of defense: 2012-02-20)

A material that is enabling integrated optics is the ferroelectric crystal Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3), which has excellent electro-optical, acousto-optical and nonlinear optical properties. Moreover, it can be doped with ...

Complex systems for quantum technologies 

Braungardt, Sibylle (Date of defense: 2011-07-12)

High-power, continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators from visible to near-infrared 

Samanta, Goutam Kumar (Date of defense: 2009-07-01)

This thesis presents the development of a new class of high-power, continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) with extended tunability from visible to near-infrared (near-IR). While lasers have been in use ...