Numerical Investigation of Mid-Infrared Supercontinuum Generation in GeAsSe Based Chalcogenide Photonic Crystal Fiber Using Low Peak Power

Abstract

We numerically investigate the use of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) through dispersion engineering of its cladding containing air-holes for supercontinuum (SC) generation in the mid-infrared region using low peak power. A 3.6-cm-long PCF made using Ge 11.5 As 24 Se 64.5 chalcogenide (ChG) glass with a hexagonal array of air-holes was optimized for obtaining zero-dispersion wavelength through dispersion tailoring around the pump wavelength of 4 µm. We have performed numerical simulations for such dispersion tailored ChG PCF with the peak power range between 0.25 kW and 2 kW. It was found through rigorous numerical simulations that an ultrabroadband midinfrared SC spectra covering the wavelength range 2-8 µm which is equivalent to 2 octaves could be generated using pump pulses of 320 fs duration at a wavelength of 4 µm with a relatively low peak power of 2 kW by using our proposed ChG PCF design.