Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation to 45 μm in ZBLAN fluoride fibers by nanosecond diode pumping

Xia, Chenan; Kumar, Madhav; Kulkarni, Ojas P.; Islam, M. N.; Terry, Fred L.; Freeman, Mike J.; Poulain, Marcel; Mazé, G.

doi:10.1364/ol.31.002553

Cited by 231 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Due to the properties of silica glass, SC generation has been limited to visible and near infrared wavelengths. Today, with the development of soft glass microstructured optical fibers [9], the effective nonlinear coefficient of fibers can be enhanced by a few orders of magnitudes [10], the group velocity dispersion of the fiber can be tailored to a variety of profiles [9] and the range of operating wavelength can also be extended into mid-infrared [11,12]. The use of such fibers promises SC applications in the mid-IR such as mid-IR Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) [3], mid-IR optical coherence tomography (OCT) [4], mid-IR absorption spectroscopy [5] and mid-IR coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) [6,7,8], etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A Mid-IR SC source would also be a good substitute for current mid-IR sources such as optical parametric oscillators and quantum cascade lasers. Some studies on soft-glass fiber based mid-IR SC generation have demonstrated that they can generate SC up to 4∼5µm [11,12,13]. However, to the best of our knowledge, these mid-IR SC studies have been more focused on generating bandwidth extending into the mid-IR rather than the coherence of the generated SC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A genetic algorithm based approach to fiber design for high coherence and large bandwidth supercontinuum generation

Zhang¹,

Afshar²,

Monro³

2009

Opt. Express

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A genetic algorithm based approach to fiber design for high coherence and large bandwidth supercontinuum generation

Zhang¹,

Afshar²,

Monro³

2009

Opt. Express

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“…On the other hand, fluoride glasses have extremely low water content and provide low absorption over the entire transparency window from the deep ultraviolet (200 nm) to the mid-infrared (8 μm), making it ideal for the generation of multi-octave-wide supercontinua. Previous work on supercontinuum generation in ZBLAN fluoride glass has however focused on step-index fibres in the spectral range from the visible to the mid-IR [4][5][6], except for a recently published paper [7] in which SC spectra down to a record 200 nm in the deep-UV was generated inside a solid-core photonic crystal fibre (PCF). In both tellurite and ZBLAN PCFs, the dispersion can be tailored with proper fibre design.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel microstructured fibres for supercontinuum generation

Jiang

Joly

Babic

et al. 2015

Workshop on Specialty Optical Fibers and Their Applications

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Abstract:We report recent progress on the fabrication of photonic crystal fibre from ZBLAN and tellurite glasses and their application to generating broadband supercontinua.OCIS codes: 060.5295 Photonic crystal fiber; 060.2280 Fiber design and fabrication; 320.6629 Supercontinuum generation.Soft glasses such as fluorides, chalcogenides and heavy-metal oxides have attracted great interest because of their wide windows of transparency extending into the deep ultraviolet (UV) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral regions [1,2]. Among them, TeO 2 -based tellurite and ZrF 4 -based ZBLAN fluoride glasses have been intensively investigated for supercontinuum (SC) generation. There are several reasons for this. For example, the good thermal stability and chemical resistance of tellurite glasses means that they can be easily melted and moulded into the required shape. In addition, these glasses possess very high linear and nonlinear refractive indices and if properly synthesized, offer a transmission window that can be extended to 6 μm, suitable for mid-IR SC generation in sub-centimetre fibre lengths [3]. On the other hand, fluoride glasses have extremely low water content and provide low absorption over the entire transparency window from the deep ultraviolet (200 nm) to the mid-infrared (8 μm), making it ideal for the generation of multi-octave-wide supercontinua. Previous work on supercontinuum generation in ZBLAN fluoride glass has however focused on step-index fibres in the spectral range from the visible to the mid-IR [4-6], except for a recently published paper [7] in which SC spectra down to a record 200 nm in the deep-UV was generated inside a solid-core photonic crystal fibre (PCF). In both tellurite and ZBLAN PCFs, the dispersion can be tailored with proper fibre design. Drawing tellurite or ZBLAN glass PCFs with complicated cladding structures is extreme challenging due to the much more rapid change in glass viscosity with temperature, which means that the drawing temperature must be precisely controlled within a narrow range (less than 30°C for tellurite and 10°C for ZBLAN) [1, 2] -much more challenging than in fused silica (~300°C). Another challenge is thermal instability, which can cause glass devitrification in fibre preforms during heating. Here we introduce an improved "stack-and-draw" procedure for soft glasses [8], that enables us to fabricate tellurite and ZBLAN PCFs with nearly perfect structures. Fig. 1 (a) SC spectrum generated in a cladding junction for an in-coupled pump energy of 830 pJ. The spectrum extends from the deep-UV (200 nm) to the infrared (1.75 μm); (b) Energy dependence of UV and visible-near-IR spectra generated in the same junction, measured for in-coupled pulse energies from 3 to 362 pJ; (c) Near-field mode profiles measured with different bandpass filters in the UV region; (d) A spatially dispersed spectrum shows a bright deep UV band (within the dashed box).One of our highly nonlinear solid-core ZBLAN PCFs was used for SC generation, pumped by fs lasers at 800 and 1042 nm. As di...

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“…These applications place widely varying demands on the characteristics of a supercontinuum source. Novel optical fibers can yield supercontinua spanning the ultraviolet into the midinfrared [6][7][8]. However, a requirement for shot-to-shot repeatability and a smooth spectrum limits the allowable propagation length, restricting the bandwidth [7].…”

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confidence: 99%

Multi-octave supercontinuum generation from mid-infrared filamentation in a bulk crystal

Austin

Silva

Thai

et al. 2013

EPJ Web of Conferences

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Abstract. We present supercontinuum generation pumped by femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in a bulk homogeneous material. The spectrum extends from 450 nm into the midinfrared, and carries high spectral energy density (3 pJ/nm-10 nJ/nm). The supercontinuum has high shot-to-shot reproducibility and preserves the carrier-to-envelope phase. Our result paves the way for compact supercontinuum sources with unprecedented bandwidth.Bright, broadband and coherent light sources are required, for example, in optical coherence tomography [1], time-resolved spectroscopy [2] and microscopy [3]. Such supercontinua are also a step towards arbitrary multi-color waveform synthesis, which offers simultaneous probing and control [4] of electronic, vibrational and rotational motion, or synthesizing single cycle waveforms at arbitrary wavelengths [5]. These applications place widely varying demands on the characteristics of a supercontinuum source. Novel optical fibers can yield supercontinua spanning the ultraviolet into the midinfrared [6][7][8]. However, a requirement for shot-to-shot repeatability and a smooth spectrum limits the allowable propagation length, restricting the bandwidth [7]. Spectral broadening in bulk materials, in contrast, has thus far not achieved bandwidths comparable to those from fibers. In particular, long wavelength extensions of the spectrum are inefficient and require extreme conditions [9][10][11]. This suggests the necessity of increasing the pump wavelength to extend the long wavelength edge of the supercontinuum, but raises the question of whether a corresponding red shift of the short wavelength edge will occur.Here, we present a supercontinuum produced by filamentation of femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in bulk yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) crystal. The spectrum spans 450-4500 nm, the broadest ever produced by filamentation in bulk. We verify carrier-envelope phase stability and shot-to-shot repeatability. Simulations indicate an absence of complex pulse splitting and self-compression of the pump pulse by a factor of 10.The pump pulses were produced with an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA), which delivered carrier-envelope phase stable 85 fs pulses at 3100 nm center wavelength and with a repetition rate of 160 kHz [12]. The setup for generating and measuring the supercontinuum is shown in Fig. 1(a). Pulses of 6.9 µJ energy were collimated to 4 mm diameter and were focused by a 75 mm focal length CaF 2 lens to a 1/e 2 diameter of 50 µm. The peak power was 76 MW which is approximately three times the critical power for YAG. The 2 mm-thick YAG plate was placed in the focal region, producing a clearly visible filament. We observed no irregular or interference patterns typically indicative of multifilamentation. At a distance of 54 mm after the exit plane of the YAG plate, we acquired an angularly-resolved {θ, λ} spectrum which provided our connection to the theory and This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which per...

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Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation to 45 μm in ZBLAN fluoride fibers by nanosecond diode pumping

Cited by 231 publications

References 10 publications

A genetic algorithm based approach to fiber design for high coherence and large bandwidth supercontinuum generation

A genetic algorithm based approach to fiber design for high coherence and large bandwidth supercontinuum generation

Novel microstructured fibres for supercontinuum generation

Multi-octave supercontinuum generation from mid-infrared filamentation in a bulk crystal

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