Coherent supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber with all-normal group velocity dispersion

On-chip octave-spanning flat supercontinuum in all-normal-dispersion silicon nitride waveguides

On-chip supercontinuum generators have emerged as an attractive optical source with small size, broad spectrum and high power efficiency. Nevertheless, there has long been a trade-off between spectral uniformity and bandwidth. We propose a novel silicon nitride waveguide with flat saddle-shaped all-normal dispersion, particularly for enhancing the nonlinear interactions over a wide band. By launching a 250-fs 30-kW input pulse, an ultra-flat (-6 dB) octave-spanning supercontinuum extending from 638 nm to 1477 nm can be generated. We analyze the performance of the supercontinuum generator in terms of spectral flatness and bandwidth under different input pulse conditions. Thanks to mature dispersion engineering, the pump wavelength can be flexibly selected within the flat dispersion region. The generated supercontinuum, therefore, can be applied to different spectral regions by shifting the center wavelength.

On the frequency spanning of SPM-enabled spectral broadening: analytical solutions

We present an analytical treatment of ultra-short pulses propagating in an optical fiber in the strong nonlinearity regime, in which the interaction between self-phase modulation (SPM) and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) substantially broadens the input spectrum. Supported by excellent agreement with the simulation results, these analytical solutions provide a convenient and reasonable accurate estimation of the peak position of the outermost spectral lobes as well as the full width at half maximum of the broadened spectrum. We show that our unified solutions are valid for either Gaussian pulse or hyperbolic secant pulse propagating inside an optical fiber with positive or negative GVD. Our findings shed light on the optimization of SPM-enabled spectral broadening in various applications.

Few-cycle all-fiber supercontinuum laser for ultrabroadband multimodal nonlinear microscopy

Temporally coherent supercontinuum sources constitute an attractive alternative to bulk crystal-based sources of few-cycle light pulses. We present a monolithic fiber-optic configuration for generating transform-limited temporally coherent supercontinuum pulses with central wavelength at 1.06 µm and duration as short as 13.0 fs (3.7 optical cycles). The supercontinuum is generated by the action of self-phase modulation and optical wave breaking when pumping an all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber with pulses of hundreds of fs duration produced by all-fiber chirped pulsed amplification. Avoidance of free-space propagation between stages confers unequalled robustness, efficiency and cost-effectiveness to this novel configuration. Collectively, the features of all-fiber few-cycle pulsed sources make them powerful tools for applications benefitting from the ultrabroadband spectra and ultrashort pulse durations. Here we exploit these features and the deep penetration of light in biological tissues at the spectral region of 1 µm, to demonstrate their successful performance in ultrabroadband multispectral and multimodal nonlinear microscopy.

Quartic Kerr cavity combs: bright and dark solitons

We theoretically investigate the dynamics, bifurcation structure, and stability of localized states in Kerr cavities driven at the pure fourth-order dispersion point. Both the normal and anomalous group velocity dispersion regimes are analyzed, highlighting the main differences from the standard second-order dispersion case. In the anomalous regime, single and multi-peak localized states exist and are stable over a much wider region of the parameter space. In the normal dispersion regime, stable narrow bright solitons exist. Some of our findings can be understood using a new, to the best of our knowledge, scenario reported here for the spatial eigenvalues, which imposes oscillatory tails to all localized states.

Breaking fundamental noise limitations to supercontinuum generation

Supercontinuum generation in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion regime is widely considered to be inherently unstable against input pulse fluctuations. This constraint has compelled a coherent supercontinuum to be triggered by femtosecond pulses. In this work, conditions for breaking this fundamental limitation are analytically derived and realized in a silicon waveguide by exploiting the Kerr nonlinearity dispersion. On this basis, coherent supercontinuum generation with picosecond pulses and anomalous group-velocity dispersion is numerically demonstrated, which crosses a long-standing frontier in nonlinear optics.

Coherent supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion Si3N4 waveguides

Spectral broadening of optical frequency combs with high repetition rate is of significant interest in optical communications, radio-frequency photonics and spectroscopy. Silicon nitride waveguides (Si₃N₄) in the anomalous dispersion region have shown efficient supercontinuum generation spanning an octave-bandwidth. However, the broadening mechanism in this regime is usually attained with femtosecond pulses in order to maintain the coherence. Supercontinuum generation in the normal dispersion regime is more prone to longer (ps) pulses, but the implementation in normal dispersion silicon nitride waveguides is challenging as it possesses strong requirements in propagation length and losses. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the use of a Si₃N₄ waveguide to perform coherent spectral broadening using pulses in the picosecond regime with high repetition rate. Moreover, our work explores the formation of optical wave breaking using a higher energy pulse which enables the generation of a coherent octave spanning spectrum. These results offer a new prospect for coherent broadening using long duration pulses and replacing bulky optical components.

Ultra-flat, low-noise, and linearly polarized fiber supercontinuum source covering 670-1390 nm

We report an octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum (SC) fiber laser with excellent noise and polarization properties. This was achieved by pumping a highly birefringent all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber with a compact high-power ytterbium femtosecond laser at 1049 nm. This system generates an ultra-flat SC spectrum from 670 to 1390 nm with a power spectral density higher than 0.4 mW/nm and a polarization extinction ratio of 17 dB across the entire bandwidth. An average pulse-to-pulse relative intensity noise down to 0.54% from 700 to 1100 nm was measured and found to be in good agreement with numerical simulations. This highly stable broadband source could find strong potential applications in biomedical imaging and spectroscopy where an improved signal-to-noise ratio is essential.

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in silicon-germanium all-normal dispersion waveguides

We demonstrate coherent supercontinuum generation spanning over an octave from a silicon germanium-on-silicon waveguide using ∼200fs pulses at a wavelength of 4 µm. The waveguide is engineered to provide low all-normal dispersion in the TM polarization. We validate the coherence of the generated supercontinuum via simulations, with a high degree of coherence across the entire spectrum. Such a generated supercontinuum could lend itself to pulse compression down to 22 fs.

Noise-related polarization dynamics for femto and picosecond pulses in normal dispersion fibers

We report how the complex intra-pulse polarization dynamics of coherent optical wavebreaking and incoherent Raman amplification processes in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fibers vary for femto and picosecond pump pulses. Using high temporal resolution vector supercontinuum simulations, we identify deterministic polarization dynamics caused by wavebreaking and self-phase modulation for femtosecond pulses and quasi-chaotic polarization evolution driven by Raman amplification of quantum noise for picosecond pulses. In contrast to cross-phase modulation instability, the Raman-based polarization noise has no power threshold and is reduced by aligning the higher energy polarization component with the lower index axis of the fiber. The degree of polarization stability is quantified using new time domain parameters that build on the spectrally averaged degree of coherence used in supercontinuum research to quantify the output spectral stability. We show that the spectral coherence is intrinsically linked to polarization noise, and that the noise will occur in both polarization maintaining (PM) and non-PM fibers, spanning a broad range of pulse energies, durations, and fiber birefringence values. This analysis provides an in-depth understanding of the nonlinear polarization dynamics associated with coherent and incoherent propagation in ANDi fibers.

Low-noise octave-spanning mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a multimode chalcogenide fiber

We demonstrate the generation of a low-noise, octave-spanning mid-infrared supercontinuum from 1700 to 4800 nm by injecting femtosecond pulses into the normal dispersion regime of a multimode step-index chalcogenide fiber with 100 µm core diameter. We conduct a systematic study of the intensity noise across the supercontinuum spectrum and show that the initial fluctuations of the pump laser are at most amplified by a factor of three. We also perform a comparison with the noise characteristics of an octave-spanning supercontinuum generated in the anomalous dispersion regime of a multimode fluoride fiber with similar core size and show that the normal dispersion supercontinuum in the multimode chalcogenide fiber has superior noise characteristics. Our results open up novel perspectives for many practical applications such as long-distance remote sensing where high power and low noise are paramount.

Detection and elimination of pulse train instabilities in broadband fibre lasers using dispersion scan

We use self-calibrating dispersion scan to experimentally detect and quantify the presence of pulse train instabilities in ultrashort laser pulse trains. We numerically test our approach against two different types of pulse instability, namely second-order phase fluctuations and random phase instability, where the introduction of an adequate metric enables univocally quantifying the amount of instability. The approach is experimentally demonstrated with a supercontinuum fibre laser, where we observe and identify pulse train instabilities due to nonlinear propagation effects under anomalous dispersion conditions in the photonic crystal fibre used for spectral broadening. By replacing the latter with an all-normal dispersion fibre, we effectively correct the pulse train instability and increase the bandwidth of the generated coherent spectrum. This is further confirmed by temporal compression and measurement of the output pulses down to 15 fs using dispersion scan.

Coherent Mid-IR Supercontinuum Generation using Tapered Chalcogenide Step-Index Optical Fiber: Experiment and modelling

Mid-infrared region of electromagnetic spectrum has increased a lot of scientific and technical interest because of its utility to figure out the molecular fingerprints. Current mid-infrared light sources including quantum cascade lasers, thermal-emitters, and synchrotron radiation are not suitable for various potential applications where we require coherent, portable and broadband light sources. During the current decade, several efforts have been put forwarded to extend the spectral range of the supercontinuum. However, the coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum spectrum in the mid-infrared region has been demonstrated rarely. Here, we demonstrate a coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum using a tapered chalcogenide fiber pumped at various wavelength ranging from 2 µm to 2.6 µm. Experimental observations show that the supercontinuum spectrum extending from ~1.6 µm to 3.7 µm can be achieved using a 3 cm long tapered chalcogenide step-index optical fiber pumped with femtosecond laser pulses at 2.6 µm. To the best of our knowledge, using short pump wavelengths at 2 µm to 2.6 µm in an all-normal dispersion engineered chalcogenide glass fiber, the coherent supercontinuum spectrum has been reported first time. Such coherent broadband light source has its key prominence for the various prospective applications in the fields of bio-medical, sensing, and multiplex coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microspectroscopy.

Generating few-cycle pulses with integrated nonlinear photonics

Ultrashort laser pulses that last only a few optical cycles have been transformative tools for studying and manipulating light-matter interactions. Few-cycle pulses are typically produced from high-peak-power lasers, either directly from a laser oscillator or through nonlinear effects in bulk or fiber materials. Now, an opportunity exists to explore the few-cycle regime with the emergence of fully integrated nonlinear photonics. Here, we experimentally and numerically demonstrate how lithographically patterned waveguides can be used to generate few-cycle laser pulses from an input seed pulse. Moreover, our work explores a design principle in which lithographically varying the group-velocity dispersion in a waveguide enables the creation of highly constant-intensity supercontinuum spectra across an octave of bandwidth. An integrated source of few-cycle pulses could broaden the range of applications for ultrafast light sources, including supporting new lab-on-a-chip systems in a scalable form factor.

Ultrabroadband and coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in Te-based chalcogenide tapered fiber with all-normal dispersion

We demonstrated an ultrabroadband supercontinuum (SC) generation with high coherence property in all-normal-dispersion (ANDi) Te-based chalcogenide tapered fiber. The fibers made of Ge₂₀As₂₀Se₁₅Te₄₅ core and Ge₂₀As₂₀Se₂₀Te₄₀ cladding glasses were fabricated via isolated stacked extrusion. The waist diameter and length can be accurately controlled by a homemade tapering platform. When the core diameter of the waist was ≤14 μm, the fiber showed an ANDi characteristic in the wavelength range of 1.7-14 μm. A coherent SC generation covered 1.7-12.7 μm was generated in a 7-cm-long tapered fiber, pumped at 5.5 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first SC experimental demonstration in Te-based step-index tapered fiber and the broadest SC generation in chalcogenide tapered fiber when pumped in the normal dispersion regime so far.

Highly coherent supercontinuum generation in a polarization-maintaining CS2-core photonic crystal fiber

In this paper, we design a polarization-maintaining CS₂-core photonic crystal fiber (PM-CCPCF). The two air holes in the x direction are infiltrated with C₂H₅OH in order to introduce birefringence. By optimizing the structure parameters of the PM-CCPCF, it is demonstrated that the x-polarization fundamental mode has an all-normal dispersion profile and the corresponding y-polarization fundamental mode has an anomalous dispersion profile for a pump wavelength of 1.76 μm. Then, we investigate the supercontinuum (SC) generations when different fiber lengths, pump peak powers, and pump pulse widths are chosen, respectively. Simulation results show that for the x-polarization and y-polarization fundamental modes, highly coherent SCs can be generated by appropriately choosing the fiber length and pump pulse parameters. Finally, nonlinear propagation dynamics are analysed when the optimized fiber length and pump pulse parameters are used. The bandwidth of the SCs generated for the x-polarization and y-polarization fundamental modes can be up to 0.82 and 1.26 octave, respectively.

Optical-Field-Controlled Photoemission from Plasmonic Nanoparticles with a Sub-Two-Cycle, 6 nJ, Octave-spanning Ti:sapphire Oscillator

We developed an optimized, carrier-envelope-phase-stable Ti:sapphire oscillator that generates 6 nJ pulses compressible to under sub- two- optical-cycles in duration. We used the optimized oscillator to demonstrate carrier-envelope-phase-sensitive (CEP-sensitive) photoemission from metallic nanoparticles in the near-infrared.

Slide-free virtual histochemistry (Part I): development via nonlinear optics

Histochemistry is a microscopy-based technology widely used to visualize the molecular distribution in biological tissue. Recent developments in label-free optical imaging has demonstrated the potential to replace the conventional histochemical labels/markers (fluorescent antibodies, organic dyes, nucleic acid probes, and other contrast agents) with diverse optical interactions to generate histochemical contrasts, allowing "virtual" histochemistry in three spatial dimensions without preparing a microscope slide (i.e. labor-intensive sample preparation). However, the histochemical information in a label-free optical image has often been rather limited due to the difficulty in simultaneously generating multiple histochemical contrasts with strict spatial co-registration. Here, in the first part (Part I) of this two-part series study, we develop a technique of slide-free virtual histochemistry based on label-free multimodal multiphoton microscopy, and simultaneously generate up to four histochemical contrasts from in vivo animal and ex vivo human tissue. To enable this functionality, we construct and demonstrate a robust fiber-based laser source for clinical translation and phenotype a wide variety of vital cells in unperturbed mammary tissue.

Linearly chirped mid-infrared supercontinuum in all-normal-dispersion chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers

We demonstrate all-normal dispersion supercontinuum generation in chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers pumped at 2070-2080 nm with a femtosecond fiber laser. At 2.9 kW peak power, the generated supercontinuum has a 3 dB bandwidth of 27.6 THz and -20 dB bandwidth of 75.5 THz. We experimentally investigated the supercontinuum evolution inside our sample fiber at various peak powers and fiber lengths and study the impact of fiber water absorption on the generated supercontinuum spectrum. Multiple tests with fiber length- ranging from 0.34 to 10 cm-provide insight on pulse evolution along fiber length. Our simulations, which utilizes the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation model, match perfectly the experiments for all tested pump powers and fiber lengths, and confirm that the output pulse has a linear chirp, allowing linear pulse compression.

Polarization noise places severe constraints on coherence of all-normal dispersion femtosecond supercontinuum generation

Supercontinuum (SC) generated with all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fibers has been of special interest in recent years due to its potentially superior coherence properties when compared to anomalous dispersion-pumped SC. However, care must be taken in the design of such sources since too long pump pulses and fiber length has been demonstrated to degrade the coherence. To assess the noise performance of ANDi fiber SC generation numerically, a scalar single-polarization model has so far been used, thereby excluding important sources of noise, such as polarization modulational instability (PMI). In this work we numerically study the influence of pump power, pulse length and fiber length on coherence and relative intensity noise (RIN), taking into account both polarization components in a standard ANDi fiber for SC generation pumped at 1064 nm. We demonstrate that the PMI introduces a power dependence not found in a scalar model, which means that even with short ~120 fs pump pulses the coherence of ANDi SC can be degraded at reasonable power levels above ~40 kW. We further demonstrate how the PMI significantly decreases the pump pulse length and fiber length at which the coherence of the ANDi SC is degraded. The numerical predictions are confirmed by RIN measurements of fs-pumped ANDi fiber SC.

Asterisk-shaped microstructured fiber for an octave coherent supercontinuum in a sub-picosecond region

We selected two thermally matched silicate glasses with fair refractive index contrast and developed an asterisk-shaped all-solid microstructured optical fiber. The fiber presents a low, ultra-flat, and all-normal dispersion in a wide wavelength range, allowing for the generation of an octave-spanning coherent supercontinuum (SC) in a 20 dB dynamic range with 0.5 ps pump pulses at 1.55 μm. This result improves pump pulse duration that is only ∼100  fs, related to the broadband and highly coherent SC generation in fibers with all-normal dispersion. This enables broadband SC sources with all-fiber, high-power, and highly coherent properties.

Experimental investigation on supercontinuum generation by single, dual, and triple wavelength pumping in a silica photonic crystal fiber

We investigate the supercontinuum (SC) generation in an 1 cm long silica photonic crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by the pulse sources with single, dual, and triple wavelengths, respectively. The silica PCF has two zero-dispersion wavelengths at 900 and 2620 nm, respectively. When pumped by a single wavelength, the SC spectral range covers about 1000 nm. When pumped by dual and triple wavelengths, the SC spectral range covers wider than 2000 nm. Both the SC spectral range and the flatness are improved obviously when pumped by triple wavelengths. The maximum SC spectral range is obtained when the silica PCF is pumped by the triple wavelengths at 800, 1450, and 1785 nm. The SC spectral range covers 2810 nm from 350 to 3160 nm wider than three octaves. The 10 dB bandwidth covers 2280 nm from 450 to 2730 nm wider than two octaves. This is the first investigation on comparison of the SCs generated by different pump wavelengths up to three experimentally. The generated SC spectra have covered the full transmission window of silica fiber.

Characterisation of longitudinal variation in photonic crystal fibre

We present a method by which the degree of longitudinal variation in photonic crystal fibre (PCF) may be characterised through seeded four-wave mixing (FWM). Using an iterative numerical reconstruction, we created a theoretical model of the PCF that displays FWM phasematching properties that are similar to experiment across all measured length scales. Our results demonstrate that the structure of our PCF varies by less than ±1 % and that the characteristic length of the variations is approximately 15 cm.

Self-phase modulation enabled, wavelength-tunable ultrafast fiber laser sources: an energy scalable approach

We propose and demonstrate a new approach to implement a wavelength-tunable ultrafast fiber laser source suitable for multiphoton microscopy. We employ fiber-optic nonlinearities to broaden a narrowband optical spectrum generated by an Yb-fiber laser system and then use optical bandpass filters to select the leftmost or rightmost spectral lobes from the broadened spectrum. Detailed numerical modeling shows that self-phase modulation dominates the spectral broadening, self-steepening tends to blue shift the broadened spectrum, and stimulated Raman scattering is minimal. We also find that optical wave breaking caused by fiber dispersion slows down the shift of the leftmost/rightmost spectral lobes and therefore limits the wavelength tuning range of the filtered spectra. We show both numerically and experimentally that shortening the fiber used for spectral broadening while increasing the input pulse energy can overcome this dispersion-induced limitation; as a result, the filtered spectral lobes have higher power, constituting a powerful and practical approach for energy scaling the resulting femtosecond sources. We use two commercially available photonic crystal fibers to verify the simulation results. More specific, use of 20-mm fiber NL-1050-ZERO-2 enables us to implement an Yb-fiber laser based ultrafast source, delivering femtosecond (70-120 fs) pulses tunable from 825 nm to 1210 nm with >1 nJ pulse energy.

1% rms amplitude noise from a 30 fs continuum based source tunable from 800 to 1250 nm

We present amplitude noise characterization of a low-cost continuum source tunable from 800 to 1250 nm, with the pulse duration of 30 fs, and average output power up to 140 mW at 80 MHz pulse repetition rate. The system is based on a SESAM-modelocked, solid-state Yb tungstate laser plus spectral broadening via a microstructured fiber followed by pulse compression with a simple prism compressor. The measured RMS amplitude noise of 1.2 to 2.5% in the whole tunable range is comparable to the modelocked oscillators. Additionally, we show an excellent agreement between simulated and the experimentally measured spectra.

Tapered fluorotellurite microstructured fibers for broadband supercontinuum generation

Fluorotellurite microstructured fibers (MFs) based on TeO2-BaF2-Y2O3 glasses are fabricated by using a rod-in-tube method. Tapered fluorotellurite MFs with varied transition region lengths are prepared by employing an elongation machine. By using a tapered fluorotellurite MF with a transition region length of ∼3.3  cm as the nonlinear medium and a 1560 nm femtosecond fiber laser as the pump source, broadband supercontinuum generation covering from 470 to 2770 nm is obtained. The effects of the transition region length of the tapered fluorotellurite MF on supercontinuum generation are also investigated. Our results show that tapered fluorotellurite MFs are promising nonlinear media for generating broadband supercontinuum light expanding from visible to mid-infrared spectral region.

Coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in all-solid chalcogenide microstructured fibers with all-normal dispersion

We report the coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in an all-solid chalcogenide microstructured fiber with all-normal dispersion. The chalcogenide microstructured fiber is a four-hole structure with core material of AsSe2 and air holes that are replaced by As2S5 glass rods. Coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum light extended to 3.3 μm is generated in a 2 cm long chalcogenide microstructured fiber pumped by a 2.7 μm laser.

Direct comparison of shot-to-shot noise performance of all normal dispersion and anomalous dispersion supercontinuum pumped with sub-picosecond pulse fiber-based laser

Coherence of supercontinuum sources is critical for applications involving characterization of ultrafast or rarely occurring phenomena. With the demonstrated spectral coverage of supercontinuum extending from near-infrared to over 10 μm in a single nonlinear fiber, there has been a clear push for the bandwidth rather than for attempting to optimize the dynamic properties of the generated spectrum. In this work we provide an experimental assessment of the shot-to-shot noise performance of supercontinuum generation in two types of soft glass photonic crystal fibers. Phase coherence and intensity fluctuations are compared for the cases of an anomalous dispersion-pumped fiber and an all-normal dispersion fiber. With the use of the dispersive Fourier transformation method, we demonstrate that a factor of 100 improvement in signal-to-noise ratio is achieved in the normal-dispersion over anomalous dispersion-pumped fiber for 390 fs long pump pulses. A double-clad design of the photonic lattice of the fiber is further postulated to enable a pump-related seeding mechanism of normal-dispersion supercontinuum broadening under sub-picosecond pumping, which is otherwise known for similar noise characteristics as modulation instability driven, soliton-based spectra.

Soliton annihilation into a polychromatic dispersive wave

We investigate the propagation of a soliton in an axially varying optical fiber with a progressive change from anomalous to normal dispersion regimes. Spectral and temporal measurements provide evidence for a complete annihilation of the soliton, which explodes into a polychromatic dispersive wave. This interpretation is confirmed by numerical solution of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

Suppressing Short-term Polarization Noise and Related Spectral Decoherence in All-normal Dispersion Fiber Supercontinuum Generation

The supercontinuum generated exclusively in the normal dispersion regime of a nonlinear fiber is widely believed to possess low optical noise and high spectral coherence. The recent development of flattened all-normal dispersion fibers has been motivated by this belief to construct a general-purpose broadband coherent optical source. Somewhat surprisingly, we identify a large short-term polarization noise in this type of supercontinuum generation that has been masked by the total-intensity measurement in the past, but can be easily detected by filtering the supercontinuum with a linear polarizer. Fortunately, this hidden intrinsic noise and the accompanied spectral decoherence can be effectively suppressed by using a polarization-maintaining all-normal dispersion fiber. A polarization-maintaining coherent supercontinuum laser is thus built with a broad bandwidth (780-1300 nm) and high spectral power (~1 mW/nm).

Supercontinuum generation at 800 nm in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber

We have numerically investigated the supercontinuum generation and pulse compression in a specially designed all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber with a flat-top dispersion curve, pumped by typical pulses from state of the art Ti:Sapphire lasers at 800 nm. The optimal combination of pump pulse parameters for a given fiber was found, which provides a wide octave-spanning spectrum with superb spectral flatness (a drop in spectral intensity of ~1.7 dB). With regard to the pulse compression for these spectra, multiple-cycle pulses (~8 fs) can be obtained with the use of a simple quadratic compressor and nearly single-cycle pulses (3.3 fs) can be obtained with the application of full phase compensation. The impact of pump pulse wavelength-shifting relative to the top of the dispersion curve on the generated SC and pulse compression was also investigated. The optimal pump pulse wavelength range was found to be 750 nm < λp < 850 nm, where the distortions of pulse shape are quite small (< -3.3 dB). The influences of realistic fiber fabrication errors on the SC generation and pulse compression were investigated systematically. We propose that the spectral shape distortions generated by fiber fabrication errors can be significantly attenuated by properly manipulating the pump.

Highly coherent supercontinuum generation with picosecond pulses by using self-similar compression

The low coherence of the supercontinuum (SC) generated using picosecond pump pulses is a major drawback of such SC generation scheme. In this paper, we propose to first self-similarly compress a high power picosecond pump pulse by injecting it into a nonlinearity increasing fiber. The compressed pulse is then injected into a non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZ-DSF) for SC generation. The nonlinearity increasing fiber can be obtained by tapering a large mode area photonic crystal fiber. The fiber nonlinearity is varied by varying the pitch sizes of the air holes. By using the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, we show that a 1 ps pump pulse with random noise can be compressed self-similarly down to a pulse width of 53.6 fs with negligible pedestal. The noise level of the compressed pulse is reduced at the same time. The 53.6 fs pulse can then be used to generate highly coherent SC in an NZ-DSF. By using the proposed scheme, the tolerance of noise level for highly coherent SC generation with picosecond pump pulses can be improved by 5 order of magnitude.

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a novel AsSe2-As2S5 hybrid microstructured optical fiber

novel AsSe(2)-As(2)S(5) hybrid MOF (HMOF) is designed and fabricated by the rod-in-tube drawing technique. The core is made from AsSe2 glass and the cladding is made from As(2)S(5) glass. The loss is ~1.2 dB/m at ~3000 nm. Zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) of the HMOF is ~3380 nm. Supercontinuum (SC) generation in a 2 cm-long HMOF is investigated with the pump wavelengths of ~3062, 3241 and 3389 nm from a tunable optical parametric oscillator (OPO) system. Broadband midinfrared (MIR) SC generation with the spectrum from ~1256 to 5400 nm is obtained with the peak power of ~1337 kW at the wavelength of ~3389 nm.

Gigahertz pulse source by compression of mode-locked VECSEL pulses coherently broadened in the normal dispersion regime

We report the coherent spectral broadening of the output of a mode-locked VECSEL emitting 455 fs pulses at 1007 nm in the normal-dispersion regime. Subsequent compression of the fiber outputs using a transmission grating compressor produced 1.56 GHz trains of 150 fs pulses at 270 mW average power or 220 fs pulses at 520 mW average power. The system approaches the performance needed for a pump for coherent supercontinuum generation.

All-solid microstructured fiber with flat normal chromatic dispersion

We present a new approach for the development of all-solid microstructured fiber with flat all-normal dispersion in the broadband range of 1550-2500 nm. The use of two soft glasses gives additional degrees of freedom in the design of microstructured fibers. As a result, we have designed and developed a fiber optimized for supercontinuum generation with 1550 nm pulsed lasers in the all-normal dispersion regime within an infrared range, beyond the fused silica glass limit. The measurement of the chromatic dispersion of the manufactured fibers was performed with a white light interferometric method in the spectral range 900-1650 nm. We demonstrate very good agreement between the full vector finite element simulations and the measurement results.

Coherent fiber supercontinuum for biophotonics

Biophotonics and nonlinear fiber optics have traditionally been two independent fields. Since the discovery of fiber-based supercontinuum generation in 1999, biophotonics applications employing incoherent light have experienced a large impact from nonlinear fiber optics, primarily because of the access to a wide range of wavelengths and a uniform spatial profile afforded by fiber supercontinuum. However, biophotonics applications employing coherent light have not benefited from the most well-known techniques of supercontinuum generation for reasons such as poor coherence (or high noise), insufficient controllability, and inadequate portability. Fortunately, a few key techniques involving nonlinear fiber optics and femtosecond laser development have emerged to overcome these critical limitations. Despite their relative independence, these techniques are the focus of this review, because they can be integrated into a low-cost portable biophotonics source platform. This platform can be shared across many different areas of research in biophotonics, enabling new applications such as point-of-care coherent optical biomedical imaging.

1064 nm laser-induced defects in pure SiO₂ fibers

We investigate evidence of the formation of nonbridging oxygen hole centers in pure silica photonic crystal fibers from 5 ps 1064 nm pulses. The formation of the defects is attributed to the breaking of stressed silicon-oxygen bonds in the glass matrix through a many-photon process. We compare the photodarkening induced by the 1064 nm pump with photodarkening induced by short wavelength light in a 1064 nm pumped supercontinuum extending to 400 nm. It is shown that the higher peak power at the pump wavelength makes it a more significant cause of photodarkening when compared to the shorter wavelength light generated in the fiber.

Overcoming temporal polarization instabilities from the latent birefringence in all-normal dispersion, wave-breaking-extended nonlinear fiber supercontinuum generation

The intrinsic weak birefringence in all-normal dispersion highly nonlinear fiber, particularly ultra-high-numerical-aperture fiber, generates supercontinuum with long term polarization instabilities, even for seed pulses launched along the perceived slow axis of the fiber. Highly co/anti-correlated fluctuations in energy between regions of power spectral density mask the extent of the spectral noise in total integrated power measurements. The instability exhibits a seed pulse power threshold above which the output polarization state of the supercontinuum seeds from noise. Eliminating this instability through the utilization of nonlinear fiber with a large designed birefringence, encourages the exploration of compression schemes and seed sources. Here, we include an analysis of the difficulties for seeding supercontinuum with the highly attractive ANDi-type lasers. Lastly, we introduce an intuitive approach for understanding supercontinuum development and evolution. By modifying the traditional characteristic dispersion and nonlinear lengths to track pulse properties within the nonlinear fiber, we find simple, descriptive handles for supercontinuum evolution.

Broadband nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy by shaping a coherent fiber supercontinuum

Vibrational spectroscopy has been widely applied in different fields due to its label-free chemical-sensing capability. Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) provides stronger signal and faster acquisition than spontaneous Raman scattering, making it especially suitable for molecular imaging. Coherently-controlled single-beam CARS simplifies the conventional multi-beam setup, but the vibrational bandwidth and non-trivial spectrum retrieval have been limiting factors. In this work, a coherent supercontinuum generated in an all-normal-dispersion nonlinear fiber is phase-shaped within a narrow bandwidth for broadband vibrational spectroscopy. The Raman spectra can be directly retrieved from the CARS measurements, covering the fingerprint regime up to 1750 cm(-1). The retrieved spectra of several chemical species agree with their spontaneous Raman data. The compact fiber supercontinuum source offers broad vibrational bandwidth with high stability and sufficient power, showing the potential for spectroscopic imaging in a wide range of applications.

Generation of single-cycle mid-infrared pulses via coherent synthesis

A new approach for the generation of single-cycle mid-infrared pulses without complicated control systems is proposed, which is based on direct coherent synthesis of two idlers generated by difference frequency generation (DFG) processes. It is found that the waveform of synthesized pulses is mainly determined by the spectra superposition, the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) difference, the relative timing and the chirp ratio between the idlers. The influences of these parameters on the synthesized waveform are also numerically calculated and analyzed via second-order autocorrelation, which offers general guidelines for the waveform optimization. The single-cycle synthesized mid-infrared pulses, which are centered at 4233 nm with the spectrum spanning from 3000 nm to 7000 nm, are achieved by carefully optimizing these parameters. The single-cycle mid-infrared laser source presents the possibility of investigating and controlling the strong field light-matter interaction.

Wave-breaking-extended fiber supercontinuum generation for high compression ratio transform-limited pulse compression

Wave-breaking often occurs when a short intense optical pulse propagates in a long normally dispersive optical fiber. This effect has conventionally been avoided in fiber (super-)continuum-based pulse compression because the accumulated frequency chirp of the output pulse cannot be fully compensated by a standard prism (or grating) pair. Thus, the spectral extending capability of the wave-breaking has not been utilized to shorten the compressed pulse. We demonstrate that wave-breaking-free operation is not necessary if a 4f pulse shaper-based compressor is employed to remove both the linear and nonlinear chirp of the output pulse. By propagating a 180 fs (FWHM) input pulse in a nonlinear photonic crystal fiber beyond the wave-breaking limit, we compress the wave-breaking-extended supercontinuum output pulse to the bandwidth-limited duration of 6.4 fs (FWHM). The combination of high compression ratio (28×) and short pulse width represents a significant improvement over that attained in the wave-breaking-free regime.

Highly nonlinear all-solid photonic crystal fibers with low dispersion slope

A fluorine-doped trench-assisted structure is proposed to improve the nonlinearity of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Three all-solid highly nonlinear PCFs with low dispersion slope and low confinement loss are designed. They exhibit all normal dispersion, two zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) and one ZDW just at 1.55 μm, respectively. The lowest dispersion slope is 5.12×10(-4) ps/(km·nm(2)), which is 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional highly nonlinear fibers. A nonlinear coefficient of 31.5 W(-1)·km(-1) and low loss of 9.62×10(-5) dB/km at 1.55 μm has been achieved for this PCF.

Pulse duration and energy scaling of femtosecond all-normal dispersion fiber oscillators

We investigate the scaling properties of mode-locked all-normal dispersion fiber oscillators in terms of output pulse energy and compressed pulse duration. Experimental results are achieved by stepwise variation of the resonator dispersion, total fiber length, and the spectral filter bandwidth. Adjustment of these parameters enables pulse duration scaling down to 31 fs and increase of output pulse energy up to 84 nJ.

Nonlinear polarization dynamics in a weakly birefringent all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber: toward a practical coherent fiber supercontinuum laser

Dispersion-flattened dispersion-decreased all-normal dispersion (DFDD-ANDi) photonic crystal fibers have been identified as promising candidates for high-spectral-power coherent supercontinuum (SC) generation. However, the effects of the unintentional birefringence of the fibers on the SC generation have been ignored. This birefringence is widely present in nonlinear non-polarization maintaining fibers with a typical core size of 2 µm, presumably due to the structural symmetry breaks introduced in the fiber drawing process. We find that an intrinsic form-birefringence on the order of 10(-5) profoundly affects the SC generation in a DFDD-ANDi photonic crystal fiber. Conventional simulations based on the scalar generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GNLSE) fail to reproduce the prominent observed features of the SC generation in a short piece (9-cm) of this fiber. However, these features can be qualitatively or semi-quantitatively understood by the coupled GNLSE that takes into account the form-birefringence. The nonlinear polarization effects induced by the birefringence significantly distort the otherwise simple spectrotemporal field of the SC pulses. We therefore propose the fabrication of polarization-maintaining DFDD-ANDi fibers to avoid these adverse effects in pursuing a practical coherent fiber SC laser.

Five-order SRSs and supercontinuum generation from a tapered tellurite microstructured fiber with longitudinally varying dispersion

We try to obtain stable supercontinuum (SC) generation with broad bandwidth under relative simple pump conditions. We use a 1.3-m-long highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured fiber and pump it by a 15 ps 1064 nm fiber laser. One segment of the fiber is tapered from a core diameter of 3.4 μm to 1.3 μm. For the first time five-order stimulated Raman scatterings (SRSs) are observed for soft glass fibers. SC covering 730-1700 nm is demonstrated with the pump-pulse-energy of several nJ. The mechanisms of SC broadening are mainly SRS, self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross phase modulation (XPM). The tapered segment has two advantages. Firstly it increases the nonlinearity of fiber by several times. Secondly, it acts as a compensation for the dispersion of the untapered segment, and mitigates the walk-off between pump pulse and SRS peaks.

High quality sub-two cycle pulses from compression of supercontinuum generated in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber

We demonstrate nonlinear pulse compression based on recently introduced highly coherent broadband supercontinuum (SC) generation in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber (ANDi PCF). The special temporal properties of the octave-spanning SC spectra generated with 15 fs, 1.7 nJ pulses from a Ti:Sapphire oscillator in a 1.7 mm fiber piece allow the compression to 5.0 fs high quality pulses by linear chirp compensation with a compact chirped mirror compressor. This is the shortest pulse duration achieved to date from the external recompression of SC pulses generated in PCF. Numerical simulations in excellent agreement with the experimental results are used to discuss the scalability of the concept to the single-cycle regime employing active phase shaping. We show that previously reported limits to few-cycle pulse generation from compression of SC spectra generated in conventional PCF possessing one or more zero dispersion wavelengths do not apply for ANDi PCF.