Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in As2S3-silica "nano-spike" step-index waveguide

Opt Express. 2013 May 6;21(9):10969-77. doi: 10.1364/OE.21.010969.

Abstract

Efficient generation of a broad-band mid-infrared supercontinuum spectrum is reported in an arsenic trisulphide waveguide embedded in silica. A chalcogenide "nano-spike", designed to transform the incident light adiabatically into the fundamental mode of a 2-mm-long uniform section 1 µm in diameter, is used to achieve high launch efficiencies. The nano-spike is fully encapsulated in a fused silica cladding, protecting it from the environment. Nano-spikes provide a convenient means of launching light into sub-wavelength scale waveguides. Ultrashort (65 fs, repetition rate 100 MHz) pulses at wavelength 2 µm, delivered from a Tm-doped fiber laser, are launched with an efficiency ~12% into the sub-wavelength chalcogenide waveguide. Soliton fission and dispersive wave generation along the uniform section result in spectral broadening out to almost 4 µm for launched energies of only 18 pJ. The spectrum generated will have immediate uses in metrology and infrared spectroscopy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arsenicals / chemistry*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Infrared Rays
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Refractometry / instrumentation*
  • Sulfides / chemistry*

Substances

  • Arsenicals
  • Sulfides
  • arsenic trisulfide