Spatial Characterization Of Two-Photon States - GAP-Optique

Acknowledgements
This thesis compiles the result of five years of work at icfo. But it is, in some
sense, the result of a longer process that started many years ago in Medellín.
I would like to show my gratitude to all the people that helped me during all
this time even though I cannot mention everybody explicitly.
I would like to thank my advisor Juan P. Torres for inviting me to his
group, and for being very patient with my impatience. I am grateful to Alejandra
Valencia and Xiaojuan Shi for their generous and unconditional support.
I wish to thank all the people that provide a stimulating and fun environment
in icfo, especially Maurizio Righini, Laura Grau, Carsten Schuck, Masood
Ghotbi, Xavier Vidal, Sibylle Braungardt, Jorge Luis Domínguez-Juárez,
Petru Ghenuche, Rafael Betancurt, Philipp Hauke, Alessandro Ferraro, Agata
Checinska, and Martin Hendrych. I would like to thank Niek van Hulst and
his group, for adopting me at lunch time and for all party matters; and Morgan
Mitchell and his group, especially Marco Koschorreck, Mario Napolitano,
Florian Wolfgramm, Alessandro Cere and Brice Dubost. Logistical support by
Nuria Segù, Maria del Mar Gil, Anne Gstöttner, Jose Carlos Cifuentes, and
the electronic workshop have also been most helpful. I am extremely grateful
to Miguel Navascués that has been like a little brother to me since I came to
Barcelona, and to Artur García that welcomed me in his office every time that
I needed to talk (and that was very often).
I want to thank my “Barcelonian” friends for their caring, their emotional
and gastronomical support, Mauricio Álvarez, Carolina Mora, Friman Sánchez,
Tania de la Paz, Maria Teresa Vasco and Jose Uribe. Regardless the distance,
many of my friends made available their support in a number of ways, I am
grateful to Carlos Molina, Jose Palacios, Catalina López, Elizabeth Agudelo,
Esteban Silva, Sebastían Patrón, Jaime Hincapie, Wolfgang Niedenzu, Andrew
Hilliard, Juan C. Muñoz (y familia), Jaime Forero and Javier Moreno. It is a
pleasure to thank Boudewijn Taminiau, Ied van Oorschot, and all the Taminiau
family, since their visits and hospitality have made this years much nicer.
Agradezco hasta el cielo a mi familia. A mis papás que me han inspirado
siempre con su creatividad y fortaleza para resolver los problemas, a mis hermanas
que siempre me apoyan, y a mi hermanito Felipe, que me ha trasmitido
todo su amor por la ciencia, su curiosidad y su escepticismo.
Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the constant support
of Tim Taminiau, his careful corrections of this manuscript and the nice
3D images of the cone and the phase fronts that he made for me. I also thank
Tim for giving me my first bicycle, for teaching me how to use it, and for
pushing me up the mountain every day when we were going to work.
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