Numerical investigation on broadband mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in chalcogenide suspended-core fibers

As_2S_3 and As_2Se_3 chalcogenide 3-bridges suspended-core fibers(SCFs) are designed with shifted zero-dispersion wavelengths(ZDWs) at around 1.5 μm, 2 μm, and 2.8 μm, respectively. A generalized nonlinear Schr ¨odinger equation is used to numerically compare supercontinuum(SC) generation in these SCFs pumped at an anomalous dispersion region nearby their ZDWs. Evolutions of the long-wavelength edge(LWE), the power proportion in the long-wavelength region(PPL), and spectral flatness(SF) are calculated and analyzed. Meanwhile, the optimal pump parameters and fiber length are given with LWE, PPL, and SF taken into account. For As_2S_3 SCFs, SC from a 14 mm-long fiber with a ZDW of 2825 nm pumped at 2870 nm can achieve the longest LWE of ～ 13 μm and PPL up to ～72%. For As_2Se_3 SCFs, the LWE of 15.5 μm and the highest PPL of ～ 87% can be achieved in a 10 mm-long fiber with ZDW of 1982 nm pumped at 2000 nm. Although the As_2Se_3 SCFs can achieve much longer LWE than the As_2S_3 SCFs, the core diameter of As_2Se_3 SCFs will be much smaller to obtain a similar ZDW, leading to lower damage threshold and output power. Finally, the optimal parameters for generating SC spanning over different mid-IR windows are given.     

双零色散光子晶体光纤中可见光超连续谱的产生

在掺镱锁模光纤激光器发出的皮秒脉冲的抽运下,本文报道了双零色散的多芯光子晶体光纤中可见光超连续谱的产生.这种光子晶体光纤的类似同轴双芯结构提供了相隔很近的双零色散点.第二个零色散波长的存在阻止了反常色散区内的由脉冲内拉曼散射引起的孤子的频移,形成了稳态孤子,在短波长和长波长方向上的正常色散区均产生了可观的色散波.在2 W的平均功率下得到了550 nm到1700 nm的超连续谱.此外,光纤的同轴双芯特性也导致了入射脉冲的模式转换.实验结果和数值计算十分符合.     

Numerical investigation of a broadband coherent supercontinuum generation in Ga8Sb32S60 chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber with all-normal dispersion

All normal dispersion (ANDi) and highly nonlinear chalcogenide glass photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed and numerically investigated for a broad, coherent and ultra-flat mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. The proposed PCF consists of a solid core made of Ga₈Sb₃₂S₆₀ glass surrounded by seven rings of air holes arranged in a triangular lattice. We show by employing the finite difference frequency domain (FDFD) method that the Ga₈Sb₃₂S₆₀ PCF dispersion properties can be engineered by carefully adjusting the air holes diameter in the cladding region and ANDi regime is achieved over the entire range of wavelengths with a zero chromatic dispersion around 4.5?μm. Moreover, we demonstrate that injecting 50?fs width and 20?kW peak power laser pulses (corresponding to a pulse energy of 1.06?nJ) at a pump wavelength of 4.5?μm into a 1?cm long ANDi Ga₈Sb₃₂S₆₀ PCF generates a broad, flat-top and perfectly coherent SC spectrum extending from 1.65?μm to 9.24?μm at the 20?dB spectral flatness. These results make the proposed Ga₈Sb₃₂S₆₀ PCF an excellent candidate for various important mid-infrared region applications including mid-infrared spectroscopy, medical imaging, optical coherence tomography and materials characterization.     

双波长抽运拉锥光子晶体光纤产生超连续谱研究

利用1064 nm抽运光在总长度为1 m的光子晶体光纤(PCF)的前半段(77 cm)通过四波混频产生747 nm短波信号光,并对光纤的后半段进行拉锥处理,拉锥光纤具有707 nm和1177 nm两个零色散点(ZDW).利用1064 nm抽运光和产生的747 nm信号光共同在两个零色散点之间的反常色散区抽运拉锥光子晶体...     

Design of highly birefringent chalcogenide glass PCF: A simplest design

In this article, a new simplified structure of a highly birefringent chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is designed and analyzed by using fully vectorial finite element method. The effective indices, confinement loss, birefringence, and chromatic dispersion of fundamental polarized mode are calculated in the proposed PCF for a wide wavelength range. To maintain the polarization in chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass PCF, we enlarged two of the central air holes and reduced two transverse air holes for achieving high birefringence. This helps in creating an effective index difference between the two orthogonal polarization modes. It is also shown that As₂Se₃ glass PCF provides lower chromatic dispersion and less confinement loss compared to silica PCF of the same structure in wavelength range 1.3 to 1.8 μm and hence such chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass PCF have high potential to be used in dispersion compensating and birefringence application in optical communication systems. In addition to this, the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) result of the proposed PCF is also reported.     

Optimization control of modulation-instability gain in photonic crystal fibres with two-zero dispersion wavelengths

We design three kinds of photonic crystal fibres (PCF) with two zero-dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) using the improved full vector index method (FVIM) and finite-difference frequency domain (FDFD) techniques. Based on these designed fibres, the effect of fibre structure, pump power and wavelength on the modulation instability (MI) gain in the anomalous dispersion region close to the second ZDW of the PCFs is comprehensively analysed in this paper. The analytical results show that an optimal MI gain can be obtained when the optimal pump wavelength (1530~nm) is slightly shorter than the second ZDW (1538~nm) and the optimal pump power is 250~W. Importantly, the total MI gain bandwidth has been increased to 260~nm for the first time, so far as we know, for an optimally-designed fibre with Λ = 1.4~nm and d/Λ = 0.676, and the gain profile became much smoother. The optimal pump wavelength relies on the second ZDW of the PCF whereas the optimal pump power depends on the corporate operation of the optimal fibre structure and optimal pump wavelength, which is important in designing the most appropriate PCF to attain higher broadband and gain amplification.     

Polarization and dispersion properties of elliptical hole golden spiral photonic crystal fiber

An elliptical air-hole golden spiral photonic crystal fiber (EGS-PCF) is analyzed with the full-vectorial finite element method. The air-holes in the EGS-PCF are arranged in a spiral pattern governed by the Golden Ratio, where the design has been inspired by the optimal arrangement of seeds found in nature. The EGS-PCF exhibits extremely high birefringence (～0.022 at operating wavelength 1550 nm) which is particularly useful for generating a polarization stable supercontinuum (SC). The fiber can also be designed to have a Zero Dispersion Wavelength (ZDW) at a suitable wavelength for only one polarization and large negative dispersion for the other, leading to a single-polarization SC. In addition, the fiber dispersion can be designed to obtain ZDWs at 800 nm and 1064 nm simultaneously, which can facilitate broadband supercontinuum generation (SCG) through multi-wavelength pumping.     

Effect of group velocity dispersion on supercontinuum generation and filamentation in transparent solids

We experimentally investigate the spectral extent and spectral profile of the supercontinuum (SC) generated in transparent solids: barium fluoride, calcium fluoride, and fused silica upon irradiation by intense femtosecond-long pulses of 800, 1,380, and 2,200 nm light. These wavelengths correspond to the normal and anomalous group velocity dispersion (GVD) regimes in fused silica calcium fluoride and barium fluoride. We observe an isolated (anti-Stokes) wing on the blue side most prominently in fused silica but also in CaF₂. The SC conversion efficiency is measured for the long wavelengths used in our experiments. We also present results on filamentation in BaF₂ in the anomalous GVD regime, including visualization of focusing–refocusing events within the crystal; the size of a single filament is also determined. The 15-photon absorption cross section in BaF₂ is deduced to be 6.5 × 10^?190 cm³⁰ W^?15 s^?1.     

双零色散光子晶体光纤中超连续谱的产生及控制

 通过数值模拟飞秒脉冲在具有双零色散波长的光子晶体光纤中的传输过程,详细分析了超连续谱的产生和控制机制.结果表明：中心波长处于反常色散区的泵浦脉冲在高阶非线性和高阶色散等作用的调制下,将演化为基孤子和正常色散区的两个色散波|该色散波进而经与之相位匹配的基孤子相干加强而使频谱展宽形成超连续谱,同时两个色散波上出现了干涉引起的振荡现象.进一步对比三种结构的光子晶体光纤中超连续谱的特点,定量分析了两色散波对超连续谱的限制作用,阐述了结构参量对超连续谱的影响.基于上述结论,结合对色散波的中心波长与光子晶体光纤的色散曲线、结构参量之间关系的分析,提出了设计光子晶体光纤的结构来控制超连续谱的方法.作为例证,通过优化光子晶体光纤结构理论上实现了频谱分量覆盖可见光区的平坦超连续谱.     

Dispersion compensation in optical transmission systems using high negative dispersion chalcogenide/silica hybrid microstructured optical fiber

In this paper, a new hybrid microstructured optical fiber (H-MOF) based upon photonic bandgap (PBG) light guiding mechanism which can be used for dispersion compensation in optical transmission systems is designed and simulated. The H-MOF core is made up of silica glass and the holes in the cladding network are filled with As₂Se₃ chalcogenide glass. By selecting an appropriate geometrical parameters for the structure, the dispersion and confinement losses of the proposed H-MOF at 1.55 µm are calculated to be ?6700 ps/nm/km and 6?×?10^?4 dB/m, respectively. Relative dispersion slope (RDS) of the H-MOF at 1.55 µm is about 0.00347 nm^?1. The proposed H-MOF is suitable for use in wavelength division multiplexing and dispersion compensating systems in optical fiber transmission networks.     

Enhanced violet Cherenkov radiation generation in GeO2-doped photonic crystal fiber

We demonstrate the generation of highly efficient Cherenkov radiation (CR) in the fundamental mode of a GeO₂-doped two zero dispersion wavelengths photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Using a high power femtosecond Yb-doped PCF laser emitting 100 fs pulses as the pump source, CR with an efficiency of >40 % and a bandwidth of 38 nm is obtained in the visible-wavelength range when the average power of pump light is 1.27 W. It is that injecting the pump light in deep anomalous dispersion regime contributes to such an efficient spectrally isolated CR. The mechanism during the forming of CR is discussed and the experimental results are in good agreement with the calculation.     

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in soft-glass suspended core photonic crystal fiber

Supercontinuum from 800 to 2,600 nm has been obtained in a soft glass suspended-core photonic crystal fiber. The fiber has been fabricated using an in-house synthesized, lead-bismuth-galate oxide glass (PBG-08), which has a transmission window from 500 nm to 4,500 nm. Dispersion characteristic has been designed to enable efficient pumping in the anomalous regime, using typical telecommunication wavelengths and influence of discrepancy between design and physical dispersion profile of fiber is discussed. An optical parametric amplifier system seeded with a Ti:Sapphire oscillator has been used as a light source (70 fs pulses with 100 kHz repetition rate). Supercontinuum bandwidth on the mid-infrared side is limited by OH $^-$ absorption of the glass and presence of second zero-dispersion wavelength in the spectral area of interest. Flatness the spectrum remains under 7 dB from roughly 1,800 nm to about 2,500 nm.     

Supercontinuum generation in short tellurite microstructured fibers pumped by a quasi-cw laser

We investigate supercontinuum (SC) generation in highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured fibers pumped by a continuous wave (cw)/quasi-cw laser. We investigate two types of tellurite fibers. One type has the constant core diameter, and the other type has a longitudinally varying core diameter. For the fibers with a constant core diameter, when pumped in the anomalous dispersion region, the SC is symmetric in a fiber that has a zero dispersion wavelength close to the pump wavelength. For the fibers with a longitudinally varying diameter, the calculated phase-matching conditions show that they have a broad wavelength range of dispersive waves, and therefore the measured SC spectrum can be broader than one octave. In this work, the fiber lengths are as short as several tens of centimeters, and the pump power is in the watt level.     

中红外高双折射高非线性宽带正常色散As2 S3光子晶体光纤

设计了一种中红外As₂S₃光子晶体光纤,利用多极法研究了这种光纤的双折射、色散和非线性特性.数值研究发现,该光纤在中红外波段λ = 3.625 μm处双折射B高达0.098;其x偏振方向的非线性系数γ_x达到了1.69 m^-1 ·W^-1, y偏振方向的非线性系数γ_y达到了0.78 m^{- 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 中红外波段 双折射 非线性}     

Tunable Supercontinuum Generated in a Yb~(3+)-Doped Microstructure Fiber Pumped by Ti:Sapphire Femtosecond Laser

We experimentally demonstrate that a tunable supercontinuum(SC) can be generated in a Yb3+-doped microstructure fiber by the concept of wavelength conversion with a Ti:sapphire femtosecond(fs) laser as the pump.Experimental results show that an emission light around 1040 nm in an anomalous dispersion region is first generated and amplified by fs pulses in the normal dispersion region. Then, SC spectra from 1100 to 1380 nm and 630 to 840 nm can be achieved by combined effects of higher-order soliton fission and Raman soliton self-frequency shift in the anomalous dispersion region and self-phase modulation, dispersive wave, and four-wave mixing in the normal dispersion region. It is also demonstrated that the 20 nm change of pump results in a 280 nm broadband shift of soliton and the further red-shift of soliton is limited by OH-absorption at 1380 nm.     

Supercontinuum generation in ultra-flat near zero dispersion PCF with selective liquid infiltration

We present a new design study of ultra-flat near zero dispersion PCF with selectively liquid infiltration with all uniform air-holes in the cladding. The dependence of the individual parameters upon dispersion has been presented in detail. The study establishes that varying Λ influences the total dispersion, whereas d has the desired effect of modifying the dispersion slope, and varying n_L modifies both. With the above study we could achieve near zero ultra-flat dispersion as small as 0 ± 0.41 ps/nm/km for broad wavelength range of 452 nm. The optimized near zero ultra-flat dispersion PCF has been targeted for smooth and flat broadband spectrum supercontinuum generation (SCG) for near Infrared (IR) applications. Broadband SC generations corresponding to three different designs of ultra-flat dispersion fiber have been carried out by using picoseconds pulse laser around the first zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDW). The numerical results show that FWHM of around 400 nm with less than a meter long fiber can be achieved with these fibers that cover most of the communication wavelength bands. The proposed design study will be applicable for applications in the field of tomography, Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) system, spectroscopy, etc.     

An attempt to design long-wavelength (>2 μm) InP-based GaInNAs diode lasers

In the present paper, anticipated performance characteristics of various InP-based GaInNAs quantum-well (QW) active regions are determined with the aid of our comprehensive computer model for various sets of parameters (temperature, carrier concentration, QW thickness). It is evident from this analysis that the compressively strained InP-based Ga_0.12In_0.88N_0.02As_0.98/Ga_0.275In_0.725As_0.6P_0.4 QW structure may offer expected lasing emission. Its maximal optical gain of over 2150 cm^?1 has been determined at room temperature for the wavelength of about 2815 nm for the QW thickness of 10 nm and the carrier concentration of 5×10¹⁸ cm^?3. Therefore, the above InP-based QW structure may be successfully applied in compact semiconductor laser sources of the desired radiation of wavelengths longer at room temperature than even 2800 nm. Similar GaAs-based devices emit radiation of distinctly shorter wavelengths, whereas GaSb-based ones avail themselves of more expensive substrates as well as exhibit lower thermal conductivities and worse carrier confinements.     

High-efficiency direct-pumped Nd:YLF laser operating at 1321 nm

We present a high-efficiency Nd: LiYF₄ (Nd:YLF) laser operating at 1321 nm pumped directly into the emitting level, ⁴F_3/2. The linear polarization of the pump diode laser was maintained by a short fiber. At the absorbed pump power of 7.3 W, as high as 3.6 W of continuous-wave output power at 1321 nm is achieved. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 0.52. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of such a laser system. Comparative results obtained for the pump with a diode laser at 806 nm, into the highly absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of 880 nm wavelength pumping.     

Broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum generation in the visible wavelengths based on the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre with central holes

By coupling a train of femtosecond pulses with 100 fs pulse width at a repetition rate of 76 MHz generated by a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser into the fundamental mode of photonic crystal fibre(PCF) with central holes fabricated through extracting air from the central hole,the broad and ultra-flattened supercontinuum(SC) in the visible wavelengths is generated.When the fundamental mode experiences an anomalous dispersion regime,three phases in the SC generation process are primarily presented.The SC generation(SCG) in the wavelength range from 470 nm to 805 nm does not emerge significant ripples due to a higher pump peak power and the corresponding mode fields at different wavelengths are observed using Bragg gratings.The relative intensity fluctuations of output spectrum in the wavelength ranges of 530 nm to 640 nm and 543 nm to 590 nm are only 0.028 and 0.0071,respectively.     

Watt-level, all-fiber supercontinuum source based on telecom-grade fiber components

Supercontinuum (SC) generation in a standard telecom fiber using 1 ns pulses of a 1,550-nm DFB laser amplified in a cascade of erbium and erbium/ytterbium fiber amplifiers is reported. The SC source operated at 200 kHz repetition rate and delivered up to 2 W of average output power in the band of 1,300–2,500 nm with a diffraction limited beam. For the wavelengths over 1,650 nm, the output power of 1.1 W was recorded. The spectrum was very flat with the flatness of <5 dB in the wavelength interval of 1.6–2.18 μm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report on W-level SC generation obtained only in a standard single-mode fiber (SMF-28) with almost the entire spectrum in the eye-safe spectral region (λ > 1.4 μm) permitted by silicate glass transparency.