Fiber Photonics

Recently, coherent pulse-preserving and octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC) generation was theoretically predicted and experimentally shown in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with all-normal dispersion behavior. Since this behavior is due only to the all-normal dispersion profile and not to the photonic crystal cladding, other all-normal optical waveguides exhibit these properties as well. We extend this concept to suspended-core fibers and optical nanofibers and show experimental demonstrations of this way of SC generation. We show that optical suspended-core fibers and optical nanofibers of appropriate dimensions exhibit all-normal dispersion and address octave-spanning single pulse SC generation in the visible (VIS) and ultra violet (UV) wavelength range. In addition, we discuss the feasibility of fiber taper transitions for suitable input coupling schemes in sub-micron diameter fibers and show the importance of short adiabatic transition profiles for utilizing high-energy pulses to obtain maximum spectral broadening. They are essential for coherent broadband UV SC generation in optical nanofibers.