Recent advances in supercontinuum generation in specialty optical fibers [Invited]

Abstract

The physics and applications of fiber-based supercontinuum (SC) sources have been a subject of intense interest over the last decade, with significant impact on both basic science and industry. New uses for SC sources are also constantly emerging due to their unique properties that combine high brightness, multi-octave frequency bandwidth, fiber delivery and single-mode output. The last few years have seen significant research efforts focused on extending the wavelength coverage of SC sources towards the 2 to 20 µm molecular fingerprint mid-infrared (MIR) region and in the ultraviolet (UV) down to 100 nm, while also improving stability, noise and coherence, output power and polarization properties. Here we review a selection of recent advances in SC generation in a range of specialty optical fibers including: fluoride, chalcogenide, telluride, and silicon-core fibers for the MIR; UV-grade silica fibers and gas-filled hollow-core fibers for the UV range; and all-normal dispersion fibers for ultra-low noise coherent SC generation.