Supercontinuum

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

A Review of Mid-Infrared Supercontinuum Generation in Chalcogenide Glass Fibers

Abstract: Chalcogenide glasses have the advantages of a wide transparency window (over 20 μm) and high optical nonlinearity (up to a thousand times greater than that of silica glasses), making them good candidates for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation. In this review, we describe both the history and recent developments in mid-infrared supercontinuum generation from chalcogenide fibers according to three kinds of fiber structures: step-index, microstructured and tapered fibers. We also review the coherence properties of mid-infrared supercontinuum generation and all-fiber supercontinuum sources based on chalcogenide fibers.

Error-free 500 Gbit/s all-optical demultiplexing using low-noise, low-jitter supercontinuum short pulses

Abstract: Error-free 500 Gbit/s-to-10 Gbit/s all-optical demultiplexing based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in a 300 m polarisation-maintaining dispersion-shifted optical fibre is successfully demonstrated utilising low-noise 1 ps supercontinuum pulses with ultra-low timing jitter of <100 fs.

New Thomson scattering diagnostic on RFX-mod

Abstract: This article describes the completely renovated Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic employed in the modified Reversed Field eXperiment (RFX-mod) since it restarted operation in 2005. The system measures plasma electron temperature and density profiles along an equatorial diameter, measuring in 84 positions with 7mm spatial resolution. The custom built Nd:YLF laser produces a burst of 10 pulses at 50Hz with energy of 3J, providing ten profile measurements in a plasma discharge of about 300ms duration. An optical delay system accommodates three scattering volumes in each of the 28 interference filter spectrometers. Avalanche photodiodes detect the Thomson scattering signals and allow them to be recorded by means of waveform digitizers. Electron temperature is obtained using an alternative relative calibration method, based on the use of a supercontinuum light source. Rotational Raman scattering in nitrogen has supplied the absolute calibration for the electron density measurements. During RFX-mod experimenta...

Generation of high quality, 1.3 cycle pulses by active phase control of an octave spanning supercontinuum.

Abstract: Nonlinear pulse compression based on the generation of ultra-broadband supercontinuum (SC) in an all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fiber (ANDi PCF) is demonstrated. The highly coherent and smooth octave-spanning SC spectra are generated using 6 fs, 3 nJ pulses from a Ti:Sapphire oscillator for pumping a 13 mm piece of ANDi PCF. Applying active phase control has enabled the generation of 4.5 fs pulses. Additional spectral amplitude shaping has increased the bandwidth of the SC spectra further leading to nearly transform-limited pulses with a duration of 3.64 fs, which corresponds to only 1.3 optical cycles at a central wavelength of 810 nm. This is the shortest pulse duration achieved via compression of SC spectra generated in PCF to date. Due to the high stability and the smooth spectral intensity and phase distribution of the generated SC, an excellent temporal pulse quality exhibiting a pulse contrast of 14 dB with respect to the pre- and post-pulses is achieved.

Femtosecond Stokes shift in styryl dyes: Solvation or intramolecular relaxation?

Abstract: Transient absorption and gain spectra of the styryl dye LDS-750 in solution have been studied by the pump/supercontinuum probe (PSCP) technique with excitation at 530 nm. The pump/probe intensity correlation width was 70 fs, providing a time resolution of 40 fs. Spectra were detected in the range 400–800 nm with 1.5 nm resolution. Before 70 fs, prominent spectral structure is observed due to resonant Raman scattering from a 1500 cm−1 active mode of the chromophore. At later time, the gain spectrum undergoes an ultrafast redshift and change of shape, with time constants of ∼200 and ∼600 fs for acetonitrile and chloroform solutions, respectively. At high pumping energy (1.2 μJ), the final emitting state is reached by internal conversion from higher electronic states without a further essential Stokes shift. The emitting state is assigned to an excited isomeric form of the molecule. At low pumping energy (0.3 μJ), the first excited electronic state isomerizes in an ultrafast process followed by a slower process, the dynamics of which is controlled by the solvent. The geometrical and electronic nature of these processes and their coupling to the solvent needs further clarification.