École doctoral Ondes et Matière Pour l'obtention du grade de Docteur de l'Université Paris-Sud XI

A mis padres... Nonlinear optics concerns the modications of the optical properties of a material in-duced by the propagation of light. Since its beginnings, fty years ago, it has already found applications in almost any eld of science. In micro and nano-photonics, nonlinear phenomena are at the heart of both fascinating fundamental physics and interesting potential applications: they give a handle to tailor and control the ow of light within a sub-wavelength spatial scale. Indeed, the nonlinear eects can be enhanced in systems allowing tight light connement and low optical loses. Good candidates for this are the Photonic Crystal (PhC) nanocavities, which have been extensively studied in recent years. Among the great diversity of nonlinear processes in optics, nonlinear dynamical phenomena such as bistability and excitability have recently re-ceived considerable attention. While bistability is well known as a building block for all-optical memories, switching and logic gates, excitability has been demonstrated in optics about fteen years ago: coming from neuroscience, it is the mechanism underlying action potential ring in neurons. In this work, we have studied bistable, self-pulsing and excitable regimes in InP-base