Theoretical acousto-optic couplings mechanisms in nano-structured materials are investigated in the present thesis: the photonic and phononic crystals with simultaneous bandgaps, also named phoxonic crystals. The aim of the study consists in exploring their potential in order to reduce energy consumption, sizes of devices, by taking advantage ofthe confinement property and slow wave phenomena.For our investigations, numerical models, using finite element method, were developed to determine optimized conditions for a better efficiency and suitable parameters promoting wide bandgaps. Acoustic and optical confined modes search favorable for acousto-optic interaction is performed. Numerical models were created to compute the acousto-opticcouplings by taking into account various coupling mechanisms such as the photo-elastic, opto-mechanic and electro-optic effects.Many interaction configurations are investigated in order to determine the impact of material anisotropy, the cavity mode symmetries, various lattices or different materials such as silicon and lithium niobate.Finally, a first approach for a designed component is proposed. It shows the possibility to use coupling mechanisms for a device such as an optical modulator by using acousto-optic confined modes in a cavity.
