High average power supercontinuum sources

The physical mechanisms and basic experimental techniques for the creation of high average spectral power supercontinuum sources is briefly reviewed. We focus on the use of high-power ytterbium-doped fibre lasers as pump sources, and the use of highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibres as the nonlinear medium. The most common experimental arrangements are described, including both continuous wave fibre laser systems with over 100 W pump power, and picosecond mode-locked, master oscillator power fibre amplifier systems, with over 10 kW peak pump power. These systems can produce broadband supercontinua with over 50 and 1 mW/nm average spectral power, respectively. Techniques for numerical modelling of the supercontinuum sources are presented and used to illustrate some supercontinuum dynamics. Some recent experimental results are presented.     

Tapering photonic crystal fibres for supercontinuum generation with nanosecond pulses at 532 nm

Experimental results on supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibre tapers using pump pulses of 7 ns duration at 532 nm are presented. Photonic crystal fibre tapers with the first wavelength of zero dispersion around 532 nm were fabricated. The generation of supercontinuum was investigated in normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. Supercontinuum spectra spanning more than 400 nm in the visible region are reported.     

在色散渐减光子晶体光纤中产生超连续谱的实验研究

本文利用非线性偏振锁模激光器产生的重复频率50 MHz, 脉宽为1.8 ps的脉冲分别抽运外径均匀和色散渐减两种高非线性光子晶体光纤, 在三阶非线性效应 (自相位调制、交叉相位调制、四波混频和受激拉曼散效应等) 和色散共同作用下得到扩展至蓝光部分的超连续谱. 模拟了光谱在色散渐减光纤和均匀光纤中的展宽过程, 通过对比均匀光纤发现色散渐减光纤在调控色散, 加强拉曼孤子和色散波的群速度匹配条件, 产生超带宽光谱方面具有很大优势. 实验利用20 m长的色散渐减光纤, 得到了406.1至671.8 nm的可见光波段增强的较为平坦的超连续谱. 关键词： 超连续谱 色散渐减光子晶体光纤 群速度匹配 非线性效应     

石英光子晶体光纤中高功率中红外超连续谱的产生

非石英光纤在产生大功率超连续谱方面存在难以克服的局限性.本文首次报道了采用石英光纤产生大功率中红外超连续谱.精心设计光纤结构使色散有利于超连续谱向中红外波段展宽,同时保证相对较大的芯径以承受较高的泵浦功率.合理选择光纤长度,在保证光谱展宽到3.4 μm的情况下使光纤损耗的影响降低到最小限度.研究表明,在1.95 μm皮秒脉冲泵浦下,采用色散适宜的石英光子晶体光纤可以产生20 dB带宽覆盖1 550~3 420 nm的超连续谱.超连续谱的平均功率可达56.6 W.     

High stability supercontinuum generation in lead silicate SF57 photonic crystal fibers

We report supercontinuum (SC) generation in a lead silicate SF57 photonic crystal fiber by using a 1550 nm pump source. The effective nonlinear coefficient of the SF57 fiber is simulated to be 111.5 W-1 ·km-1 at 1550 nm. The fiber also shows ultraflat dispersion from 1700 nm to 2100 nm. Our results reveal that with an increase of the average power of the incident pulse from 10 mW to 90 mW, the SC of the SF57 photonic crystal fiber is generated from 1300 nm to 1900 nm with high stability and without significant change in spectral broadening.     

Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers made from highly nonlinear glasses

The nonlinear propagation of femtosecond pulses and supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers made from glasses with high nonlinear refractive indices are theoretically investigated without the use of the slowly varying envelope approximation. For specifically designed photonic crystal fibers with two zero-dispersion wavelengths, we predict supercontinuum generation due to nonsolitonic radiation emitted by the solitons on the shorter- and on the longer-wavelength sides. The physical mechanism and the peculiarities of such radiation on both spectral sides are studied and explained by the specific phase-matching relations between the solitons and their associated radiation.     

V型高双折射光子晶体光纤超连续谱产生的实验研究

高非线性高双折射光子晶体光纤是超连续谱产生的最有效介质之一, 因此本文选取V型光子晶体光纤作为研究对象. 通过多极理论数值模拟的结果, 确定V型光纤具有高双折射、高非线性等特性. 通过实验手段, 发现入射光中心波长和光纤的双折射效应对产生的超连续谱有很大的影响: 当入射光波长处于光子晶体光纤大的反常色散区时, 脉冲相对展得比较宽, 长轴要比短轴方向的超连续谱更宽, 频谱成分更加丰富. 在同一波长下光偏振方向越接近45°时, 超连续谱谱宽范围越大. 随着入射脉冲功率的增加, 超连续谱展得越宽, 但是当功率比较大时会达到功率饱和. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 高双折射 多极理论 超连续谱     

Non-linear applications of microstructured optical fibres

The enhancement of different non-linear processes in microstructured optical fibres can be achieved through manipulation of the dispersion characteristics of the fibre. This is demonstrated by extending the region of short wavelength operation of high power supercontinuum generation through four wave mixing in a cascaded fibre geometry where the dispersion of each fibre decreased on propagation. The technique is further refined in a demonstration utilizing long lengths of dispersion decreasing tapered microstructured fibres, where the supercontinuum extends to around 300 nm with spectral power densities in excess of 2 mW/nm in the uv. These long length tapers can also be utilized for adiabatic soliton pulse compression in new spectral regions, allowing the compression of 655 fs pulses to 45 fs.     

超短光脉冲在双折射光子晶体光纤中产生超连续谱的偏振特性数值分析

采用矢量耦合非线性薛定谔方程描述了超短光脉冲在双折射光子晶体光纤中的传输过程,并利用分步傅里叶方法求解该方程。数值模拟了中心波长为1550nm的超短光脉冲在不同色散参量的双折射光子晶体光纤中超连续谱的产生及其偏振特性。分析了光纤在不同色散区时,高阶色散和非线性效应对超连续谱及其偏振态的影响。结果表明,当超短光脉冲波长位于近光纤零色散点的反常色散区时,比其在光纤正常色散区和远离光纤零色散点的反常色散区更容易产生宽且平坦的超连续谱,所得到的光谱显示出了复杂的偏振态特性。     

Different supercontinuum generation processes in photonic crystal fibers pumped with a 1064-nm picosecond pulse

Picosecond pulse pumped supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber is investigated by performing a series of comparative experiments. The main purpose is to investigate the supercontinuum generation processes excited by a given pump source through the experimental study of some specific fibers. A 20-W all-fiber picosecond master oscillator-power amplifier （MOPA） laser is used to pump three different kinds of photonic crystal fibers for supercontinuum generation. Three diverse supercontinuum formation processes are observed to correspond to photonie crystal fibers with distinct dis- persion properties. The experimental results are consistent with the relevant theoretical results. Based on the above analyses, a watt-level broadband white light supercontinuum source spanning from 500 nm to beyond 1700 nm is demonstrated by using a picosecond fiber laser in combination with the matched photonic crystal fiber. The limitation of the group velocity matching curve of the photonic crystal fiber is also discussed in the paper.     

基于低非线性系数光子晶体光纤的全光纤高效超连续谱光源

 报道了一种基于低非线性系数光子晶体光纤的全光纤高效率超连续谱产生系统。将光纤锁模激光器输出的脉宽5 ps、重复频率20 MHz、平均功率50 mW的脉冲,输入到15 μm的大模场光纤中进行放大,通过与两级芯径较小的短光纤模场匹配缩小输出的模场直径后,输入到20 m低非线性系数的光子晶体光纤,获得的超连续谱波长覆盖范围宽于650～1 700 nm。输入光子晶体光纤的泵浦光功率为740 mW,输出超连续光功率为670 mW,转换效率大于90%。实验研究了超连续光谱展宽的过程,从理论上进行了分析解释。     

Parametric processes in microstructured and highly nonlinear optical fibres

Optical parametric amplification is an important nonlinear process in photonic crystal fibres driven by the small effective area and the special dispersion characteristics of these fibres. Aside from its role in supercontinuum generation, parametric amplification can lead to efficient wavelength conversion, limited primarily by the uniformity of the diameter of currently available fibres. The related Bragg scattering process can be used for both wavelength conversion and optical switching, again limited by the physical characteristics of the fibres used.     

基于光子晶体光纤和拉锥式单模光纤的超连续光谱产生的实验研究

本文使用重复频率为250 MHz、脉冲宽度为135 fs、最大功率为2.2 W的锁模掺镱光纤激光作为种子源,利用光子晶体光纤和自制的拉锥式单模光纤两种高非线性光纤研究了超连续光谱的产生特性,通过对比两种光纤的结构、色散等特性,分析了拉曼孤子、色散波及其他非线性效应对产生的超连续谱形状的影响,并均得到了大于一个倍频程的超连续光谱,特别是拉锥式单模光纤产生的超连续光谱,耦合效率达到60%,这为众多研究领域,尤其是光学频率梳的建立提供了实用的超连续光源.     

基于光子晶体光纤的百瓦量级超连续谱光源研究

采用脉冲重复频率可调的高功率皮秒脉冲光纤激 光抽运光子晶体光纤产生了平均输出功率为101 W的全 光纤化超连续谱. 通过一系列的对比实验, 详细研究了抽运激光的脉冲重复频率以及光子晶体光纤的长度对超连续谱产生的影响. 最后, 对如何实现更高平均功率的超连续谱输出进行相关的分析和讨论. 相关研究结果可以为进一步发展基于光子晶体光纤的高功率超连续谱光源提供一定的参考. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 非线性光纤光学 超连续谱产生     

全波段正常色散光子晶体光纤中超连续谱的产生

设计了一种铅硅酸盐SF57 材料的光子晶体光纤, 利用有限元法数值模拟了该光纤的 色散特性. 研究结果显示在整个透明波段光纤具有正常色散. 利用自适应分布傅里叶法求解非线性薛定谔方程, 对中心波长为1550 nm, 初始脉宽为150 fs 的脉冲在该光纤中传输进行了模拟, 获得了关于入射脉冲中心波长对称的展宽范围超过了600 nm 的超平坦连续光谱, 并且光谱具有极其稳定和 相干的特性. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 超连续谱产生 正常色散     

光子晶体光纤中超连续谱产生的理论与实验研究

研究了光子晶体光纤中超连续激光光源的产生机理.利用非线性偏振旋转技术产生的中心波长为1 556.0 nm的飞秒光脉冲作为泵浦光源,在69 m长的高非线性光子晶体光纤中,得到了20 dB带宽约为140 nm的超连续谱;采用实验和数值模拟方法,研究了不同泵浦功率下超连续谱形成的过程.结果表明,在不同的泵浦功率下,超连续谱的形成机理不同,在各种非线性效应的共同作用下,泵浦光脉冲的峰值功率越高,得到超连续谱的带宽越宽,实验与数值模拟结果一致.另外,要想获得平坦的宽带超连续谱,必须选择合适的光纤长度.     

Design of highly nonlinear octagonal photonic crystal fiber with near-zero flattened dispersion at 1.31μm waveband

This paper presents a highly nonlinear octagonal photonic crystal fiber (HN-OPCF) with a Ge-doped core for dental optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications. The simulation results show that a nonlinear coefficient of 56.3W⁻¹ km⁻¹ and the flattened dispersion of less than −1:0 ps/(nm·km) are obtained in 75 nm waveband (1265–1340 nm). Owing to its high nonlinear coefficient and flattened dispersion, the HN-OPCF is expected to be suitable for supercontinuum generation, which is very important in OCT applications. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed HN-OPCF can generate wideband supercontinuum.     

光子晶体光纤包层可见光及红外宽带色散波产生

对光子晶体光纤包层3个空气孔之间节区的传光特性进行了分析, 对比了纤芯与包层节区传光的模场面积、非线性系数及色散特性, 得到光子晶体光纤包层节区具有小芯、高非线性的特点.在包层空气孔较大的情况下, 得到了双零色散曲线.根据色散曲线, 分析了色散波产生的相位匹配特性, 得到了色散波中心波长随抽运波长及功率的变化规律.制备出了所设计的光子晶体光纤, 实验得到了在可见光及红外大于300 nm的宽带色散波, 并给出了色散波随抽运波长及功率的变化规律.实验和理论分析结果一致, 为波长变换及超连续宽带光源的研究奠定了基础. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 色散波 相位匹配 非线性     

Investigation of all-solid photonic bandgap fiber with low losses in low-order bandgaps

We report synoptically an investigation of design, fabrication and characterization of a new all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. By introducing an index depressed layer around a high index core in every unit cell of photonic crystal cladding, a novel all-solid bandgap fiber is predicted to obtain low confinement and bend losses within low-order bandgaps. After optimizing the structure parameters, we fabricate a batch of rods used for cladding cells, select a pure-silica rod for core cell and an inner-hexagonal jacket tube. We demonstrate an all-solid bandgap fiber with the transmission loss as low as 2 dB/km at 1,310 nm and a bandwidth of over 700 nm within the first bandgap. The guiding properties are also measured, respectively, such as transmission spectrum, attenuation spectrum, bend loss, mode field intensity profile, and chromatic dispersion.     

飞秒激光在光子晶体光纤中产生超连续光谱机制的实验研究

报道了利用零色散在780nm处的光子晶体光纤与纳焦耳量级的飞秒激光脉冲相互作用的实验结果.实验使用35fs，中心波长810—840nm，单脉冲能量可达14nJ的飞秒激光光源获得了超过一个倍频程的平坦超连续光谱（500—1100nm）.在不同功率、不同中心波长、不同啁啾和有无直流成分的多种飞秒脉冲激光的条件下，研究了超连续光谱的产生情况.并对一系列现象进行了对比，分析了超连续光谱产生的机制. 关键词： 光子晶体光纤 飞秒脉冲激光 超连续光谱