Compact all-fiber source of coherent linearly polarized octave-spanning supercontinuum based on normal dispersion silica fiber

Karol Tarnowski; Tadeusz Martynkien; Paweł Mergo; Jarosław Sotor; Grzegorz Soboń

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48726-9

Compact all-fiber source of coherent linearly polarized octave-spanning supercontinuum based on normal dispersion silica fiber

Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 23;9(1):12313. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48726-9.

Authors

Karol Tarnowski¹, Tadeusz Martynkien¹, Paweł Mergo², Jarosław Sotor³, Grzegorz Soboń⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Optics and Photonics, Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław, Poland.
² Laboratory of Optical Fiber Technology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, pl. M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 3, 20-031, Lublin, Poland.
³ Laser & Fiber Electronics Group, Faculty of Electronics, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław, Poland.
⁴ Laser & Fiber Electronics Group, Faculty of Electronics, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław, Poland. grzegorz.sobon@pwr.edu.pl.

Abstract

We report the generation of coherent octave-spanning supercontinuum in an all-fiber system, without any free-space optical components. The setup uses the femtosecond fiber laser as a pump and an all-normal dispersion microstructured fiber as a medium for supercontinuum generation. The generated spectrum is characterized both experimentally and numerically and shows a broad bandwidth (1.1-2.2 μm), a high signal to noise ratio reaching 100 at maximum, a high coherence (closing to 1), linear polarization and average output power up to 57 mW. The source is characterized by exceptional simplicity and does not require any alignment (the nonlinear fiber is spliced to the pump) which finally opens the path to outside-lab applications of supercontinuum radiation.