Wavelength-tunable mid-infrared femtosecond Raman soliton generation in birefringent ZBLAN photonic crystal fiber

Abstract

A solid core high birefringent ZrF4–BaF2–LaF3–AlF3–NaF photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with low confinement loss is proposed for the generation of Raman soliton source in the mid-infrared region. The birefringence value of the PCF reaches the magnitude of 10− 3 and confinement loss is 0.05 dB/m at 3000 nm wavelength. Numerical simulation of femtosecond Raman soliton generation based on soliton self-frequency shift in the birefringent PCF is analyzed using the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equation and split-step Fourier method. We investigate the dependence of output pulse width, wavelength shift, and conversion efficiency of Raman soliton formation on several input parameters. A femtosecond Raman soliton source with its wavelength tunable from 1500 to 3600 nm can be obtained. It is found that the maximum conversion efficiency is 93% when the wavelength is tuned by varying the initial input chirp.