Highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with high refractive index core for dental OCT applications

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography is a technology which supplies the tomographic image using the optical interference. It uses the 1.31 μm wavelength for dental applications. Resolution problems of such a technology can be improved by using supercontinuum light sources as low coherent broadband light is achievable from optical supercontinuum. Photonic crystal fibers have the ability to generate the supercontinuum light even with moderate input power levels. Only thing to consider is to ensure zero or nearly zero dispersion of such fibers at the target 1.31μm wavelength. This paper presents design of a high nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with near-zero dispersion around 1.31μm wavelength based on the finite difference method. Robustness of the design is confirmed numerically by generating wideband supercontinuum.