Publication: Octave spanning supercontinuum generation with a few-mode fiber
Date
2020
Authors
Zulkifli M.Z.
Yasin M.
Awang N.A.
Lau K.Y.
Muhammad F.D.
Zamzuri A.K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing
Abstract
We propose and demonstrate the generation of a supercontinuum with a few-mode fiber. Due to the accommodation of a few-mode fiber in LP01 and LP11 modes, the system was engineered to detect the octave spanning supercontinuum in both modes. A mode-locked laser with 5.2 nm spectral bandwidth at a central wavelength of 1557 nm, 0.92 ps pulse width, 13.36 MHz repetition rate, and 61.3 dB peak-To-pedestal extinction ratio was implemented with a carbon nanotube saturable absorber. This mode-locked laser was employed as a seed laser for the consecutive generation of supercontinuum with a 500 m few-mode fiber. The laser modes were adjusted with a mode filter to propagate in either LP01 or LP11 modes, which were accessed with a charge-coupled device camera. A fair comparison between a few-mode fiber and a single-mode fiber was made for supercontinuum generation in the LP01 mode. Despite the fact that the few-mode fiber has lower optical power than the single-mode fiber due to higher attenuation, this fiber provides flexible design of laser modes. This work demonstrates the first attempt to generate a supercontinuum with a few-mode fiber, whereby the broad tunable soliton and associated dispersive wave sources for both laser modes were comprehensively studied. � 2020 Astro Ltd.
Description
Carbon nanotubes; CCD cameras; Charge coupled devices; Fibers; Mode-locked fiber lasers; Pulse repetition rate; Saturable absorbers; Single mode fibers; Central wavelength; Dispersive waves; Extinction ratios; Few-mode fibers; Flexible designs; Mode-locked laser; Repetition rate; Spectral bandwidth; Supercontinuum generation