Abstract
We solve a system of generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations to study the nonlinear dynamics of ultrashort pulse propagation in multimode fibers. Due to pulse walk-off, permanent intermodal power transfer between modes is observed even in absence of phase matching. The strength of intermodal effects is found to depend strongly on modal symmetries, which results in preferential coupling between the LP(0n) modes. The scaling of nonlinear multimode effects in large-core fibers for the generation of ultra-high power spectral density supercontinua is finally discussed.
Highlights
The generation of an ultrawide optical spectrum known as supercontinuum (SC) as a result of cascaded nonlinear optical effects is arguably one of the most spectacular phenomena in nonlinear optics, and nearly 40 years after its discovery by Alfano and Shapiro [1] it is still one of the hottest topics in photonics
Thanks to the combination of nonlinear experiments and numerical simulations based on generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equations (GNLSEs) [5] or nonlinear envelope equations (NEEs) [6, 7], the complex dynamics underlying SC generation in single mode fibers are very well understood
Through numerical simulation of a system of coupled GNLSEs, we show that modal symmetries are key to an efficient intermodal power transfer and derive some guidelines for the exploitation of these effects for SC generation at high spectral densities
Summary
The generation of an ultrawide optical spectrum known as supercontinuum (SC) as a result of cascaded nonlinear optical effects is arguably one of the most spectacular phenomena in nonlinear optics, and nearly 40 years after its discovery by Alfano and Shapiro [1] it is still one of the hottest topics in photonics. Exploiting the HF’s high nonlinearity and unprecedented group velocity dispersion (GVD) control, SC sources can produce pulses with a broad range of spectral and temporal properties, extending from continuous-wave (CW) to femtosecond pulsed operation and with a central wavelength ranging from the visible up to the mid-IR [2,3,4]. Such flexible properties have favored applications in many diverse scientific fields, including optical coherence tomography, metrology, time resolved excitation spectroscopy and optical communications.
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