Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a four-hole As2S5 chalcogenide microstructured optical fiber

Abstract

We demonstrate the supercontinuum (SC) generation in a four-hole As2S5 chalcogenide microstructured optical fiber (MOF) experimentally. The As2S5 glass has better property of transmission than As2S3 glass in the visible range. The four-hole As2S5 MOF is fabricated by a rod-in-tube method. The SCs generated by different pump wavelengths at 2,000, 2,300 and 2,500 nm in the MOF whose length is from 2.3 to 20 cm are demonstrated. Those pump wavelengths correspond to the chromatic dispersion wavelength in the normal chromatic dispersion region, the anomalous chromatic dispersion region close to zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) and the anomalous chromatic dispersion region far from ZDW, respectively. Wider SCs can be obtained when pumped at a wavelength in the anomalous dispersion region close to ZDW. The widest SC range of 4,280 nm (from 1,370 to 5,650 nm) covering two octaves was obtained in a 4.8-cm-long fiber pumped at 2,300 nm.