Etude et réalisation d'un composant à base de polymère électro-optique pour la conversion de signal du domaine optique vers le domaine hyperfréquence

This thesis presents the study and design of an optic to High Frequency converter made of electro-optic polymers and base on a travelling wave configuration. The three waves mixing phenomenon is used in the non-linear polymer in order to realise the frequency down conversion. After a brief introduction to the main possible uses and rival technologies, the physical principles used in the converter are presented. The different materials forming the converter are studied in the quasi-static field, in the HF field and in the optical field, so as to choose the appropriate materials for the fabrication. The design and after the fabrication of the device are presented. Measurements are done with the realised samples. Even if the modulation tests show that the tree wave mixing operate inside the device, it was very difficult to realise repeatable tests for the optic to HF down conversion due to the performance of the down conversion (about -100 dB) at this frequencies (lower than 40 GHz). An increase in the targeted HF frequency has to be done (around the terahertz).