  In this thesis, we propose to tackle this important issue by designing and
realizing a novel nano-optical device based on the use of a photonic crystal
(PC) structure to generate an efficient coupling between the external source
and a NA. In this dissertation, the content is arranged into three charpters.
Chapter 1 introduces the theoritical background of this research including
surface plasmon and photonic crystal concepts. This chapter also shows the
design of the hybrid devices and demonstrates the numerical simulation of their
optical properties. Chapter 2 mainly describes the process and the fabricated
samples. The nanodevices are fabricated on an InP membrane substrate. The
critical technology for the fabrication is complex electron beam lithography.
With this technology the alignment of the positions of PC structure and NA is
well controlled. Chapter 3 demonstrates the optical characterizations of the
hybrid nanodevices including far-field characterizations and near-field
characterizations. The far-field measurement is performed by
micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy at room temperature. The results show that
for the defect PC cavities, the presence of the NA influences the optical
properties of the laser, such as lasing threshold and laser wavelength. The
near-field measurement is performed by near-field scanning microscopy, at room
temperature also. The investigation shows that the NA modifies the optical
field distribution of the laser mode. The modification depends on the position
and direction of the NA and it is sensitive to the polarization of the optical
field.
