Octave-Spanning High-Repetition-Rate Mid-IR Supercontinuum for Frequency Comb Synthesis

• Published in: 2019 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC) p. 1
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuchen, Coluccelli, Nicola, Svelto, Cesare, Laporta, Paolo, Galzerano, Gianluca, Leonov, Stanislav. O., Shiryaev, Vladimir S., Snopatin, Gennady E., Stepanov, Boris S., Plotnichenko, Victor G., Karasik, Valeriy E., Vicentini, Edoardo, Gambetta, Alessio
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-06-2019
• Subjects: Frequency synthesizers; Glass; Lenses; Optical interferometry; Optical pumping; Optical surface waves
• DOI: 10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2019.8871782

Research efforts devoted to supercontinuum (SC) light sources in a fiber-format spanning the mid-infrared (mid-IR) molecular fingerprint region is currently undergoing a dramatic increase, particularly enforced by such demanding applications as biomolecular and environmental sensing. Among various glass compositions, chalcogenides have the highest non-linearity and the broadest transparency range extending further into the mid-IR where fluoride and tellurite glasses are no longer transparent [1]. Here we demonstrate SC generation in tapered suspended-core As 2 Se 3 photonics crystal fibers pumped by a Cr 2+ :ZnSe ultrafast laser with a pulse duration of 35 fs, a repetition frequency of 170 MHz and an average power of 180 mW (30 kW peak power and 1 nJ pulse energy) at 2.4 μm, based on an improved design of that reported in Ref. [2]. The generated SC covers the spectral region from 1.4 to 4.2 μm.