Femtosecond Supercontinuum Generation Research Articles

Polarization-Dependent Formation of Extremely Compressed Femtosecond Wave Packets and Supercontinuum Generation in Fused Silica

Previous studies of formation of extremely compressed wave packets during femtosecond filamentation in the region of anomalous group velocity dispersion in solid dielectrics mostly considered the case of linearly polarized laser pulses. However, recent results suggest potential applications of polarization state manipulation for ultrafast laser writing of optical structures in bulk solid-state media. In the present work, evolution of radiation polarization parameters during formation of such extreme wave packets at the pump wavelength of 1900 nm in fused silica is studied numerically on the basis of the carrier-resolved unidirectional pulse propagation equation (UPPE). It was revealed that initial close-to-circular polarization leads to higher intensity of the anti-Stokes wing in the spectrum of the generated supercontinuum. Numerical simulations indicate a complex, space–time variant polarization state, and the resulting spatiotemporal electric field distribution exhibits a strong dependence on the initial polarization of the femtosecond pulse. At the same time, electric field polarization tends to linear one in the region with the highest field strength regardless of the initial parameters. The origin of this behavior is attributed to the properties of the supercontinuum components generation during filament-induced plasma formation.

20 GHz fiber-integrated femtosecond pulse and supercontinuum generation with a resonant electro-optic frequency comb

Frequency combs with mode spacing of 10–20 GHz are critical for increasingly important applications such as astronomical spectrograph calibration, high-speed dual-comb spectroscopy, and low-noise microwave generation. While electro-optic modulators and microresonators can provide narrowband comb sources at this repetition rate, a significant remaining challenge is a means to produce pulses with sufficient peak power to initiate nonlinear supercontinuum generation spanning hundreds of terahertz (THz) as required for self-referencing. Here, we provide a simple, robust, and universal solution to this problem using off-the-shelf polarization-maintaining amplification and nonlinear fiber components. This fiber-integrated approach for nonlinear temporal compression and supercontinuum generation is demonstrated with a resonant electro-optic frequency comb at 1550 nm. We show how to readily achieve pulses shorter than 60 fs at a repetition rate of 20 GHz. The same technique can be applied to picosecond pulses at 10 GHz to demonstrate temporal compression by 9× and achieve 50 fs pulses with a peak power of 5.5 kW. These compressed pulses enable flat supercontinuum generation spanning more than 600 nm after propagation through multi-segment dispersion-tailored anomalous-dispersion highly nonlinear fibers or tantala waveguides. The same 10 GHz source can readily achieve an octave-spanning spectrum for self-referencing in dispersion-engineered silicon nitride waveguides. This simple all-fiber approach to nonlinear spectral broadening fills a critical gap for transforming any narrowband 10–20 GHz frequency comb into a broadband spectrum for a wide range of applications that benefit from the high pulse rate and require access to the individual comb modes.

Taming femtosecond laser filamentation and supercontinuum generation in liquids using neural networks.

We report the spectral shaping of supercontinuum generation in liquids by employing properly engineered Bessel beams coupled with artificial neural networks. We demonstrate that given a custom spectrum, neural networks are capable of outputting the experimental parameters needed to generate it experimentally.

High coherent supercontinuum generation in nitrobenzene liquid-core photonic crystal fiber with elliptical air-hole inner ring

A nitrobenzene liquid-core photonic crystal fiber (NLC-PCF) with eight elliptical air-holes in the innermost ring of the cladding is proposed in this work, and this fiber structure can contribute to flexibly adjusting dispersion and constraining the fiber core. The appreciable dispersion is realized by adjusting the structural parameters of NLC-PCF, which is characterized by three zero-dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs), flat dispersion with the fluctuation of fewer than 40 ps nm−1 km−1, and high nonlinearity as high as 5500 W−1 km−1. The propagation of femtosecond pulse and supercontinuum generation (SCG) in NLC-PCF is studied numerically when the pump wavelength is located in the normal and abnormal dispersion region near different ZDW through solving the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GNLSE) by the split-step Fourier method. The numerical results show that a highly coherent supercontinuum (SC) spanning from 1.3 to 2.8 µm is obtained when the pump pulse with the center wavelength of 1810 nm, the peak power of 1000 W, and pulse width of 50 fs propagated in the 5 cm long NLC-PCF. This research can find applications in the fields of novel liquid-core PCF design and ultrashort pulse propagation.

Testing the coherence of supercontinuum generated by optical vortex beam in water

We experimentally study the femtosecond supercontinuum (SC) generation using an optical vortex (OV) beam in water. It is demonstrated that the topological charge of the OV beam has little influence on spectral broadening induced by filament, while it has strong influence on spectral intensity. Despite the SC induced by filamentation of optical vortices in air possesses orbital angular momentums (OAMs), the SC generated in water and sapphire loses OAM. However, the light at central wavelength possesses OAMs after filamentation in transparent Kerr media. This study is helpful to the understanding of the physical mechanism of femtosecond SC generation by optical vortices in water.

Femtosecond supercontinuum generation around 1560 nm in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers filled with carbon tetrachloride.

We investigated experimentally supercontinuum generation in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers with cores infiltrated with carbon tetrachloride. As a pump source, we used a standard fiber-based femtosecond laser with a central wavelength at 1560 nm and a pulse duration of 90 fs. The first investigated fiber has a zero-dispersion wavelength at 1740 nm and generates a supercontinuum in the wavelength range from 1350 to 1900 nm. The second fiber has a zero-dispersion wavelength at 1440 nm, and the observed supercontinuum spectrum ranges from 1000 to 1900 nm. We numerically analyzed coherence of simulated supercontinuum pulses and noted that the observed supercontinuum spectra had a potential for high coherence. While the dynamics of supercontinuum generation in each of the investigated cases was revealed to be in agreement with the established state of the art in nonlinear fiber optics, our results are the first demonstration of such dynamics, to the best of our knowledge, leading up to octave spanning supercontinuum spectra in liquid-filled hollow-core silica fibers under pumping with a small-footprint femtosecond laser.

Two-photon microscope using a fiber-based approach for supercontinuum generation and light delivery to a small-footprint optical head.

In this Letter, we report a low-cost, portable, two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy imager that uses a fiber-based approach for both femtosecond supercontinuum (SC) generation and light delivery to the optical head. The SC generation is based on a tapered polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber that uses pre-chirped femtosecond narrowband pulses to generate a coherent SC spectrum with a bandwidth of approximately 300 nm. Using this approach, high-power, near-transform-limited, wavelength-selectable SC pulses are generated and directly delivered to the imaging optical head. Preliminary testing of this imager on brain slices is presented, demonstrating a high signal-to-noise ratio and sub-cellular imaging capabilities to a depth of approximately 200 µm. These results demonstrate the suitability of the technology for ex vivo and potentially in vivo cellular-level biomedical imaging applications.

Supercontinuum generation with femtosecond optical pulse compression in silicon photonic crystal fibers at 2500 nm

In this paper, femtosecond optical pulses compression and supercontinuum generation in a triangular silicon photonic crystal fiber at 2500 nm are investigated. A region of large minimum anomalous group velocity dispersion, negligible higher order dispersions and unique nonlinearity of silicon are used to demonstrate compression of 100 fs initial input optical pulses to 2.5 fs and ultra-broadband supercontinuum generation with very low input pulse energy over short distances of the fiber.

Femtosecond supercontinuum generation and Čerenkov conical emission in periodically poled LiTaO3

We investigated the femtosecond supercontinuun generation and Čerenkov conical emission in periodically poled LiTaO3. A broadband spectrum was achieved from 380nm to 440nm and 490nm to 970nm. We have also demonstrated a novel way of calculating the nonlinear refractive index in the filamentation using Čerenkov radiation method. The nonlinear refractive index was about 0.024, it has the same order of magnitude with the refractive index change in proton-exchanged waveguide.

Ultrafast supercontinuum generation in bulk condensed media

Nonlinear propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in bulk transparent media leads to a specific propagation regime, termed femtosecond filamentation, which in turn produces dramatic spectral broadening, or superbroadening, termed supercontinuum generation. Femtosecond supercontinuum generation in transparent solids represents a compact, efficient and alignment-insensitive technique for generation of coherent broadband radiation at various parts of the optical spectrum, which finds numerous applications in diverse fields of modern ultrafast science. During recent years, this research field has reached a high level of maturity, both in understanding of the underlying physics and in achievement of exciting practical results. In this paper we overview the state-of-the-art femtosecond supercontinuum generation in various transparent solid-state media, ranging from wide-bandgap dielectrics to semiconductor materials and in various parts of the optical spectrum, from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared spectral range. A particular emphasis is given to the most recent experimental developments: multioctave supercontinuum generation with pumping in the mid-infrared spectral range, spectral control, power and energy scaling of broadband radiation and the development of simple, flexible and robust pulse compression techniques, which deliver few optical cycle pulses and which could be readily implemented in a variety of modern ultrafast laser systems.

Influences of astigmatic focusing geometry on femtosecond filamentation and supercontinuum generation in fused silica

The influences of focal lens tilting on the filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses in fused silica were studied experimentally. The length of filamentation, output beam profile and supercontinuum generation were found to be close related with the tilt angle of the focusing element. When the focusing lens is rotated, the filament breaks into two parts along the propagation axis. The distance between the two parts was calculated and well matched with the predicted results. It is also found that the supercontinuum spectrum becomes narrower and its conversion efficiency becomes lower by rotating the focal lens.

Femtosecond supercontinuum generation in water in the vicinity of absorption bands.

We show that it is possible to overcome the perceived limitations caused by absorption bands in water so as to generate supercontinuum (SC) spectra in the anomalous dispersion regime that extend well beyond 2000 nm wavelength. By choosing a pump wavelength within a few hundred nanometers above the zero-dispersion wavelength of 1048 nm, initial spectral broadening extends into the normal dispersion regime and, in turn, the SC process in the visible strongly benefits from phase-matching and matching group velocities between dispersive radiation and light in the anomalous dispersion regime. Some of the SC spectra are shown to encompass two and a half octaves.

Numerical investigation of enhanced femtosecond supercontinuum via a weak seed in noble gases.

Numerical simulations are employed to elucidate the physics underlying the enhanced femtosecond supercontinuum generation previously observed during optical filamentation in noble gases and in the presence of a weak seed pulse. Simulations based on the metastable electronic state approach are shown not only to capture the qualitative features of the experiment, but also reveal the relation of the observed enhancement to recent developments in the area of sub-cycle engineering of filaments.

On the interferometric coherent structures in femtosecond supercontinuum generation

We report structured interferometric features in femtosecond supercontinuum generation (FSG) with incident laser powers that are near threshold for FSG. We argue that near threshold, these structures arise from the coherent superposition of pulses that are split initially into two daughter pulses during FSG process. Increase in the input pulse energy generates multiple daughter fragments in the temporal domain to an extent that correlated interference structures are not measurable.

Supercontinuum generation in a multi-plate medium

We analyze femtosecond supercontinuum generation in a distribution of thin solid plates to show that the distributed scheme inhibits processes leading to pulse breakup while allowing spectral expansion to proceed as desired. We introduce basic criteria for setting the plate thickness or initial laser intensity and the location of each plate in the laser beam path and confirm that under these conditions a fully-coherent and intense supercontinuum can be generated for input peak power of as much as two thousand times the critical power for self-focusing of the solid medium.

Effect of a weak CW trigger on optical rogue waves in the femtosecond supercontinuum generation.

We numerically study the characteristics of optical rogue waves in the femtosecond supercontinuum (SC) generation and use the CW triggering mechanism to control the SC generation. Detailed simulation results show for the first time that a weak CW trigger can manipulate the behaviors of optical rogue waves in the femtosecond SC regime. For the proposed CW triggering technique which requires only wavelength tuning and is a handy approach for the active control of SC, the resultant spectrum can be greatly broadened, and the noise properties of the SC can be significantly improved in terms of both of the coherence and intensity stability.

Real time noise and wavelength correlations in octave-spanning supercontinuum generation

We use dispersive Fourier transformation to measure shot-to-shot spectral instabilities in femtosecond supercontinuum generation. We study both the onset phase of supercontinuum generation with distinct dispersive wave generation, as well as a highly-unstable supercontinuum regime spanning an octave in bandwidth. Wavelength correlation maps allow interactions between separated spectral components to be identified, even when such interactions are not apparent in shot-to-shot or average measurements. Experimental results are interpreted using numerical simulations. Our results show the clear advantages of dispersive Fourier transformation for studying spectral noise during supercontinuum generation.

Soliton trapping of dispersive waves during supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber

Using the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, we present a numerical study of trapping of dispersive waves by solitons during femtosecond pumped supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber with single or double zero dispersive wavelength. Numerical simulation results show that the generated supercontinuum in photonic crystal fiber with two zero dispersive wavelengths includes both blue-shifted dispersive wave (B-DW) and red-shifted dispersive wave (R-DW) while the generated supercontinuum in photonic crystal fiber with single zero dispersive wavelength has only blue-shifted dispersive wave. We find a novel phenomenon that not only B-DW but also R-DW can be trapped by solitions via four-wave mixing when the group-velocity matching between the soliton and the dispersive wave is satisfied, thus leading to the generation of new spectral components. In order to clearly display the evolution of soliton trapping of dispersive waves, the spectrogram of output pulses is observed using cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating technique.

Generating tunable optical pulses over the ultrabroad range of 16–25 μm in GeO_2-doped silica fibers with an Er:fiber laser source

We report generation of femtosecond optical pulses tunable in the 1.6-2.5 μm range using GeO2-doped core silica-cladding fibers. Optical solitons with a duration of 80-160 fs have been measured by the FROG technique in the 2-2.3 μm range. To the best of our knowledge, these are the longest wavelength temporally characterized solitons generated in silica-based fibers. We have also demonstrated more than octave-spanning femtosecond supercontinuum generation in the 1.0-2.6 μm range.

Femtosecond supercontinuum characteristics control

Supercontinuum generation in the spectral range 530–1100 nm in series of photonic-crystal fibers pumped by femtosecond Ti:S laser Mira Oprima 900-F is achieved. The evolution of spectral characteristics of femtosecond supercontinuum is proofed to be dependent on pump pulse wavelength and power radiation. Polarization characteristics of supercontinuum spectral components are analyzed. We demonstrated experimentally the possibility of control of femtosecond supercontinuum generation.