Supercontinuum

About: Supercontinuum is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7071 publications have been published within this topic receiving 127671 citations.

Endlessly mono-radial annular core photonic crystal fiber for the broadband transmission and supercontinuum generation of vortex beams.

Abstract: We demonstrate a new guiding regime termed endlessly mono-radial, in the proposed annular core photonic crystal fiber (AC-PCF), whereby only modes of the fundamental radial order are supported by the fiber at all input wavelengths. This attribute is of high interest for applications that require the stable and broadband guiding of mono-radial (i.e. doughnut shaped) cylindrical vector beams and vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum. We further show that one can significantly tailor the chromatic dispersion and optical nonlinearities of the waveguide through proper optimization of the photonic crystal microstructured cladding. The analytical investigation of the remarkable modal properties of the AC-PCF is validated by full-vector simulations. As an example, we performed simulations of the nonlinear fiber propagation of short femtosecond pulses at 835 nm center wavelength and kilowatt-level peak power, which indicate that the AC-PCF represents a promising avenue to investigate the supercontinuum generation of optical vortex light. The proposed fiber design has potential applications in space-division multiplexing, optical sensing and super-resolution microscopy.

Optical supercontinuum generation from nanosecond pump pulses in an irregularly microstructured air-silica optical fiber

Abstract: An optical supercontinuum was generated by pumping a short length of randomly microstructured air-silica optical fiber with a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The use of relatively long pump pulses and a longer pump wavelength are believed to be responsible for an improvement in results relative to similar previous reports. A figure of merit for optical continuum generation is defined, and is shown to be considerably larger in this and other experiments in which stimulated Raman scattering, instead of self-phase modulation, is the primary nonlinear process seeding spectral broadening.

Whole life cycle of femtosecond ultraviolet filaments in water

Abstract: We present measurements fully characterizing the whole life cycle of femtosecond pulses undergoing filamentation in water at 400 nm. The complete pulse dynamics is monitored by means of a four-dimensional mapping technique for the intensity distribution I(x,y,z,t) during the nonlinear interaction. Measured events (focusing or defocusing cycles, pulse splitting and replenishment, supercontinuum generation, conical emission, nonlinear absorption peaks) are mutually connected.The filament evolution from laser energy deposition in water, which is of paramount importance for a wide range of technological and medical applications, is interpreted in light of simulation results.

Supercontinuum dynamically visualizes a dividing single cell.

Abstract: During cell division, various organelles behave dynamically. Visualization of these dynamic behaviors of organelles is a promising one step forward for understanding life at the molecular level. One- or two-photon excited fluorescence microscopy has so far been used for visualizing these cell dynamics. The fluorescent probe introduced into a living cell can visualize the spatial distribution of a target molecule in real time, enabling the tracing of cell dynamics at the molecular level. Introducing a fluorescent probe into a cell, however, may alter the physical and chemical conditions of the cell. Here we show a new method for direct (no need for staining cells) visualization of living cell processes with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy. A new light source, supercontinuum generated from a photonic crystal fiber, has facilitated ultrabroadband (>3500 cm(-1)) multiplex CARS spectroscopy and imaging with high molecular specificity. Using this multiplex CARS technique, we have been successful in tracing the whole cell division process, the splitting of a mother cell into two daughter cells, appearance and disappearance of septum, and dynamic distribution changes of organelles consisting of lipid membrane. The supercontinuum has also facilitated simultaneous measurement of the CARS and two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) spectra, enabling what we call multiple nonlinear spectral imaging. Three-dimensional image reconstruction of a living cell with high speed is now possible to elucidate more detailed molecular-level dynamics inside a dividing living cell.

2.5 Gbit/s time-spread/wavelength-hop optical code division multiplexing using fibre Bragg grating with supercontinuum light source

Abstract: A technique for generating 2.5 Gbit/s time-spread/wavelength-hop (t-spread//spl lambda/-hop) optical codes. Each with chips at a different wavelength, has been developed, based on the use of chirped fibre Bragg gratings (FBG) with a supercontinuum (SC) light source. 2-channel/spl times/2.5 Gbit/s t-spread//spl lambda/-hop optical code division multiplexing (OCDM) transmission has been demonstrated, and is expounded in detail. Experimental results are compared with numerical results. The limitations of the realisable code are discussed.