By pumping an 11-cm-long step-index chalcogenide fiber with ∼330  fs pulses at 4.0 μm from an optical parametric amplifier, mid-infrared supercontinuum generation spanning from ∼1.8 to ∼10  μm within a dynamic range of ±15  dB has been demonstrated at a relatively low power threshold of ∼3000  W.

High-purity Ge-As-Se and Ge-As-S chalcogenide glasses were prepared by modified physical and chemical purification techniques. Using the purified glasses, step-index fibers with a small core (~5.5 lm) and large numerical aperture (~1.3) were fabricated. When a 13.5-cm-long fiber was pumped with 320 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 10.5 MHz at 4.1 lm, supercontinuum spanning from~1.8 to~9.8 lm with a dynamic range of ±10 dB and an average power of~3 mW was generated. P. Lucas-contributing editorManuscript No. 36278.

An environment friendly nonlinear chalcogenide glass fiber with a Ge‐Sb‐Se core and a Ge‐Se cladding is fabricated for bright broadband mid‐infrared (MIR) supercontinuum (SC) generation. The fabricated Ge‐Sb‐Se/Ge‐Se fiber with a core diameter of 6 μm shows zero group velocity dispersion at ~4.2 μm and ~7.3 μm. By pumping the fiber with a length of 11 cm at 4.485 μm with 330 fs pulses, we achieve a SC covering the 2.2–12 μm spectral range and with an output average power of ~17 mW. This bright broadband SC source is promising for high‐resolution MIR spectroscopy.

An ordered chalcogenide fiber bundle with a high resolution for infrared imaging was fabricated using a stack-and-draw approach. The fiber bundle consisted of about 810,000 single fibers with an As2S3 glass core of 9 μm in diameter and a polyetherimide (PEI) polymer cladding of 10 μm in diameter. The As2S3/PEI fibers showed good transparency in the 1.5-6.5 μm spectral region. It presented a resolution of ∼45  lp/mm and a crosstalk of ∼2.5%. Fine thermal images of a hot soldering iron tip were delivered through the fiber bundle.

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