Maximizing the bandwidth of coherent, mid-IR supercontinuum using highly nonlinear aperiodic nanofibers

Abstract

We describe in detail a new procedure of maximizing the bandwidth of mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum (SC) in highly nonlinear microstructured As2Se3 and tellurite aperiodic nanofibers. By introducing aperiodic rings of first and secondary air holes into the cross-sections of our microstructured fiber designs, we achieve flattened and all-normal dispersion profiles over much broader bandwidths than would be possible with simple periodic designs. These fiber designs are optimized for efficient, broadband, and coherent SC generation in the mid-IR spectral region. Numerical simulations show that these designs enable the generation of a SC spanning over 2290 nm extending from 1140 to 3430 nm in 8 cm length of tellurite nanofiber with input energy of E = 200 pJ and a SC bandwidth of over 4700 nm extending from 1795 to 6525 nm generated in only 8 mm-length of As2Se3-based nanofiber with input energy as low as E = 100 pJ. This work provides a new type of broadband mid-IR SC source with flat spectral shape as well as excellent coherence and temporal properties by using aperiodic nanofibers with all-normal dispersion suitable for applications in ultrafast science, metrology, coherent control, non-destructive testing, spectroscopy, and optical coherence tomography in the mid-IR region.