Supercontinuum generated in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fibers with picosecond pump pulses

The supercontinuum (SC) generation in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by high power picosecond pulses are investigated in this paper. Our results show that an octave SC may be achieved by pumping the ANDi PCF with picosecond pump pulses. However, the PCF length required may have to be lengthened to several tens of centimeters, which is much longer than that with femtosecond pump pulses. The relatively long PCF gives rise to much higher Raman gain and stronger Raman frequency shift compared to those with femtosecond pump pulses, which in turn not only cause a distorted temporal waveform and an un-flattened spectrum, but also severely degrade the coherence of the generated SC.     

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.     

20 W all fiber supercontinuum generation from picosecond MOPA pumped photonic crystal fiber

An all fiber high power supercontinuum (SC) source is demonstrated by pumping a section of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a picosecond MOPA laser. The core of the PCF is enlarged at the input end through a serious of PCF post processing method to match the output fiber of the picosecond laser, to ensure low loss splicing, hence high power operation of the whole system. The supercontinuum output spectrum covers the wavelength range from 650 nm to beyond 1700 nm. Limited by available pump power, 20 W super-continuum output power is obtained under 29.5 W picosecond pump power, giving a high optical to optical conversion efficiency of 67.8%.     

亚纳秒光脉冲抽运光子晶体光纤产生的瓦级超连续谱

研究了亚纳秒脉冲抽运光子晶体光纤产生高功率超连续谱的机理.采用掺镱锁模光纤激光器产生的脉宽570ps光脉冲,抽运1.8m光子晶体光纤,得到了平均功率为1.15W、光谱覆盖范围为750nm的超连续谱.通过实验和模拟结果的对比和分析,证实了亚纳秒脉冲抽运1.8m PCF产生超连续谱时,调制不稳定性效应起了重要作用.在研究了不同抽运功率下输出的超连续谱变化后,发现随着抽运功率的提高,输出功率也更高且超连续谱覆盖波段也更宽,在瓦级输出功率下依然未达到饱和展宽状态,还有进一步提高功率和展宽光谱的空间.     

飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤不同色散区产生超连续谱的数值分析

采用预测校正分步傅里叶方法数值模拟了飞秒光脉冲在光子晶体光纤中的非线性传输和超连续谱产生,分析了初始光脉冲的中心波长、峰值功率和光纤长度在光子晶体光纤正、反常色散区对超连续谱形状和带宽的影响。结果表明,当初始光脉冲的中心波长在光纤的反常色散区时,产生的超连续谱宽要远宽于正常色散区,但是光谱的平坦性较差;当光脉冲中心波长在靠近零色散波长的反常色散区且其他脉冲参数不变的情况下,存在一个产生宽且平坦的超连续谱的最佳峰值功率和最佳光纤长度。对于超连续谱系统的优化设计与实际应用具有参考意义。     

All fiber supercontinuum light source using photonic crystal fibers pumped by nanosecond fiber laser pulses

A novel compact supercontinuum (SC) source using the single mode photonic crystal fibers (PCF) pumped with an all fiber MOPA fiber laser is demonstrated experimentally. A bandwidth of 700 nm is achieved by operating the pumping fiber laser at a wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 10 ns, repetition rate of 50 kHz and peak power of 1 kW. The SC generation is initiated through modulation instability (MI) which breakups the nanosecond pump pulses into picosecond or femtosecond pulses, and further broadened through nonlinear effects of PCF.     

Cascaded four-wave mixing generation in photonic crystal fibers

We investigate the efficient generation of broadband cascaded four-wave mixing products seeded at different wavelengths in photonic crystal fibers, with a high-peak power picosecond pulse pumping in the anomalous dispersion region as well as the normal dispersion regime. Multiple four-wave mixing products with different frequency intervals have been experimentally achieved when pumping in the anomalous dispersion region. Measured results present bandwidths of over 500 nm. We have also experimentally demonstrated that only seeding at the Stokes or anti-Stokes peaks can we get the efficient generation of cascaded four-wave mixing or cascaded stimulated Raman scattering when pumping in the normal dispersion regime.     

Black-light continuum generation in a silica-core photonic crystal fiber

We report the observation of a broadband continuum spanning from 350 to 470 nm in the black-light region of the electromagnetic spectrum as a result of picosecond pumping a solid-core silica photonic crystal fiber at 355 nm. This was achieved despite strong absorption and a large normal dispersion of silica glass in the UV. Further investigations reveal that the continuum generation results from the interplay of intermodally phase-matched four-wave mixing and cascaded Raman scattering. We also discuss the main limitations in terms of bandwidth and power due to temporal walk-off, fiber absorption, and the photo darkening effect, and we suggest simple solutions.     

High energy femtosecond supercontinuum light generation in large mode area photonic crystal fiber

A large mode area photonic crystal fiber (LMA PCF) with an effective area of 180 μm² is used to generate a high energy, micro-joule range, flat, octave spanning supercontinuum (SC) extending from ~ 600 nm to ~ 1720 nm. A train of femtosecond pulses from a widely-tunable parametric amplifier pumped by a Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier system are coupled into a 20 cm length of LMA PCF generating a SC of 1.4 μJ energy. We present an experimental study of the high energy SC as a function of the input power and the pumping wavelength. The spectrum obtained at a pump wavelength of 1260 nm presents spectral flatness variation less than 12 dB over more than 1.1 octave bandwidth. The physical processes behind the SC formation are described in the normal and the anomalous dispersion regions. Our experimental results are successfully compared with the numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.     

Supercontinuum generation in seven-core photonic crystal fiber pumped by a broadband picosecond pulsed fiber amplifier

We report a supercontinuum source generated in seven-core photonic crystal fibers(PCFs) pumped by a self-made all-fiber picosecond pulsed broadband fiber amplifier. The amplifier's output average power is 60 W at 1150 nm with spectral width of 260 nm, and its repetition rate is 8.47 MHz with pulse width of 221 ps. With two different lengths of seven-core PCF, different output powers and spectra are obtained. When a 10 m long seven-core PCF is chosen, the output supercontinuum covers the wavelength range from 620 nm to 1700 nm, with the output power of 11.7 W. With only 2 m long seven-core PCF used in the same experiment, the wavelength of the supercontinuum spans from 680 nm to 1700 nm,with the output power of 20.4 W. The results show that the pulse width is 385 ps in the 10 m long seven-core PCF and 255 ps in the 2 m long one, respectively, due to the normal dispersion of the PCF.     

35 W high power all fiber supercontinuum generation in PCF with picosecond MOPA laser

We demonstrate 35 W high power all fiber supercontinuum generation by pumping photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a 57.7 W picosecond fiber MOPA. The picosecond fiber MOPA pumped supercontinuum source exhibits an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of up to 61.7%, covering a spectral range from 600 nm to beyond 1700 nm. The compact and practical configuration of this supercontinuum source has potential to achieve higher power scale together with perfect continuum spectrum.     

Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber using femtosecond pulses

Supercontinuum (SC) generation in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is demonstrated using an amplified femtosecond stretched pulses. The stretched pulse is obtained from a mode-locked Erbium-doped fiber laser and operates at 1564 nm with a repetition rate of 8.27 MHz and a pulse width of 340 fs. Using a 50 m long PCF, broad SC spectra are observed starting from 1220 and 1050 nm for the corresponding 5.1 and 177 kW pump and spanning a wavelength region of more than 1750 nm. At a maximum peak pump power of 177 kW, flat SC which extends over bandwidths of 660 and 486 nm are obtained using 50 and 100 m piece of PCF respectively. However, the output power level is higher for the 100 m PCF especially at longer wavelength region.     

The on-off contrast in an all optical switch based on stimulated Raman scattering in optical fibers

We present the investigation of the ON-OFF contrast in an optical switch using stimulated Raman Scattering in optical fibers. The setup consists of a Raman circuit of two fiber stages connected in series with a spectral filter rejecting the signal inserted between them. The stage 1 works as saturated amplifier, in this stage the pump pulses are saturated when pump and signal are launched to the input or travel through the fiber without saturation when pump only is launched at the input. The stage 2 works as a Raman amplifier with amplification depending on the pump power entering from the first stage. When pump only is launched at the input enter to the second stage without saturation and amplifies the signal entering this stage, strong signal pulses appear at the output; when pump and signal are launched to the input the pump is saturated in the first stage and the filter rejected the amplified signal, so that only low power pump enters the second stage and no signal pulses appear at the output. We use 2 ns pump pulses at 1528 nm and continuous-wave signal at 1620 nm. In the first stage of Raman circuit, we use both fibers with normal and anomalous dispersion. In fibers with anomalous dispersion, pump saturation is affected by modulation instability. We find that the contrast may be improved using fibers with normal and anomalous dispersion connected in series in the first stage, provided there is appropriate selection of their lengths. The best achieved contrast was 15 dB at 6 W pump peak power.     

国产光纤实现同带抽运3000W激光输出

同带抽运是目前实现高功率光纤激光器的有效手段.本文基于同带抽运方式,以国产25/250μm掺镱双包层光纤为增益光纤,构建了全光纤化的主控振荡器功率放大器.实验中采用的国产光纤是中国电子科技集团公司第四十六研究所采用化学气相沉积结合气相-液相复合掺杂工艺制备的,其Yb~(3+)离子的分布更均匀,吸收截面更大,吸收系数更高.实验中,在种子光功率为67.8 W、抽运总功率为3511 W的条件下,实现了3079 W的激光输出,斜效率为85.9%,光束质量M~2约为2.14,3dB带宽为1.4nm,这是目前基于国产光纤同带抽运方式实现的最高功率.理论和实验结果表明国产光纤制备技术不断成熟,已经具备承受高功率输出的能力.继续提高抽运功率,优化增益光纤长度,改良散热方式,国产光纤有望实现更高功率的激光输出.     

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.     

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.     

Dispersion flattened photonic crystal fiber with high nonlinearity for supercontinuum generation at 1.55 μm

A robust design for a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based on pure silica with small normal dispersion and high nonlinear coefficient for its dual concentric core structure is presented.This design is suitable for flat broadband supercontinuum (SC) generation in the 1.55-μm region.The numerical results show that the nonlinear coefficient of the proposed eight-ring PCF is 33.8 W -1 ·km -1 at 1550 nm.Ultraflat dispersion with a value between -1.65 and -0.335 ps/(nm·km) is obtained ranging from 1375 to 1625 nm.The 3-dB bandwidth of the SC is 125 nm (1496–1621 nm),with a fiber length of 80 m and a corresponding input peak power of 43.8 W.The amplitude noise is considered to be related to SC generation.For practical fabrication,the influence of the random imperfections of airhole diameters on dispersion and nonlinearity is discussed to verify the robustness of our design.     

光纤色散对超连续谱产生的影响

对1550nm波长附近具有不同色散特性的光纤产生超连续谱进行了详细的计算和分析。结果表明，在反常色散区和零散区，由于内脉冲拉曼散射效应和三阶色散效应的影响，不能产生平坦、宽带的超连续谱。而在正常色散区，可以产生平坦光滑的超连续谱。进一步研究表明，具有较小正常色散的色散平坦光纤对于产生平坦、宽带的超连续谱极为有效。通过增强脉冲抽运功率，可以得到谱强起伏小于10dB、带宽达300nm以上的平坦超宽超连续谱。     

光子晶体光纤产生飞秒超连续谱的实验研究

研究了飞秒脉冲经过光子晶体光纤时超连续谱产生的物理机制。采用输出波长可调谐的钛宝石光参量放大器作为泵浦源,光纤光谱仪测量不同泵浦功率和不同泵浦波长条件下光子晶体光纤产生的超连续谱的光谱图,对进行了归一化处理后的不同泵浦功率和不同泵浦波长条件下的超连续谱进行对比,分析影响光子晶体光纤超连续谱差异的物理机制。实验结果表明,当泵浦波长不变时,随着入射泵浦脉冲平均功率的增大,波峰增多,谱宽也逐渐加宽并伴随着出现能量向短波方向集中的现象,泵浦功率到达一定强度时,超连续谱的宽度最后到达饱和,谱的包络趋于稳定;入射光功率稳定在300 mW时,超连续谱的宽度和形状皆受到泵浦波长影响,在760～840 nm范围内,泵浦波长越长,波峰数越多,泵浦脉冲波长离零色散点越近,光子晶体光纤产生的超连续谱谱宽会越宽,超连续谱的形状相对越平坦。     

Temperature effects on supercontinuum generation using a continuous-wave Raman fiber laser

We describe the effect of temperature variations on supercontinuum (SC) generation in optical fibers using a continuous-wave (CW) Raman fiber laser as a pump. We achieve supercontinuum generation by pumping only ∼2 W of power into a 7 km-long nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZDSF) in the region of small anomalous dispersion. In these conditions, the supercontinuum builds up basically on modulational instability and Raman. At room temperature, the supercontinuum covers effectively the S, C and L transmission bands defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Temperature tuning of the fiber environment provides a means of tuning the fiber dispersion, and thus a means of changing the width and shape of the supercontinuum spectrum. We demonstrate a 27% increase in the 10-dB SC width. We believe that the application of this new tuning mechanism to other experimental configurations using pulsed sources might be used to produce extremely broad supercontinuums.