2002/04/01 by Stéphane Coen, Alvin Hing Lun Chau, R. Leonhardt +8 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Optical Network Technologies #Photonic Crystal and Fiber Optics
paper · doi:10.1364/josab.19.000753
openalex publication_date 2002/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Supercontinuum generation is investigated experimentally and numerically in a highly nonlinear index-guiding photonic crystal optical fiber in a regime in which self-phase modulation of the pump wave makes a negligible contribution to spectral broadening. An ultrabroadband octave-spanning white-light continuum is generated with 60-ps pump pulses of subkilowatt peak power. The primary mechanism of spectral broadening is identified as the combined action of stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing. The observation of a strong anti-Stokes Raman component reveals the importance of the coupling between stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers and also indicates that non-phase-matched processes contribute to the continuum. Additionally, the pump input polarization affects the generated continuum through the influence of polarization modulational instability. The experimental results are in good agreement with detailed numerical simulations. These findings demonstrate the importance of index-guiding photonic crystal fibers for the design of picosecond and nanosecond supercontinuum light sources.