Christian Agger

Supercontinuum generation in ZBLAN fibers—detailed comparison between measurement and simulation

We present a detailed comparison between modeling and experiments on supercontinuum (SC) generation in a commercial ZBLAN step-index fiber. Special emphasis is put on identifying accurate material parameters by incorporating measurements of the ZBLAN Raman gain, fiber dispersion, and loss. This identification of accurate parameters is of great importance to substantiate numerical simulations of SC generation in soft-glass fibers. Good agreement between measurement and simulation is obtained when pumping both in the normal and anomalous dispersion regimes.

IR microscopy utilizing intense supercontinuum light source

Combining the molecular specificity of the infrared spectral region with high resolution microscopy has been pursued by researchers for decades. Here we demonstrate infrared supercontinuum radiated from an optical fiber as a promising new light source for infrared microspectroscopy. The supercontinuum light source has a high brightness and spans the infrared region from 1400 nm to 4000 nm. This combination allows contact free high resolution hyper spectral infrared microscopy. The microscope is demonstrated by imaging an oil/water sample with 20 μm resolution.

Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation to 12.5μm in large NA chalcogenide step-index fibres pumped at 4.5μm

We present numerical modeling of mid-infrared (MIR) supercontinuum generation (SCG) in dispersion-optimized chalcogenide (CHALC) step-index fibres (SIFs) with exceptionally high numerical aperture (NA) around one, pumped with mode-locked praseodymium-doped (Pr(3+)) chalcogenide fibre lasers. The 4.5um laser is assumed to have a repetition rate of 4MHz with 50ps long pulses having a peak power of 4.7kW. A thorough fibre design optimisation was conducted using measured material dispersion (As-Se/Ge-As-Se) and measured fibre loss obtained in fabricated fibre of the same materials. The loss was below 2.5dB/m in the 3.3-9.4μm region. Fibres with 8 and 10μm core diameters generated an SC out to 12.5 and 10.7μm in less than 2m of fibre when pumped with 0.75 and 1kW, respectively. Larger core fibres with 20μm core diameters for potential higher power handling generated an SC out to 10.6μm for the highest NA considered but required pumping at 4.7kW as well as up to 3m of fibre to compensate for the lower nonlinearities. The amount of power converted into the 8-10μm band was 7.5 and 8.8mW for the 8 and 10μm fibres, respectively. For the 20μm core fibres up to 46mW was converted.

Label-free and selective nonlinear fiber-optical biosensing

We demonstrate that the inherent nonlinearity of a microstructured optical fiber (MOF) may be used to achieve label-free selective biosensing, thereby eliminating the need for post-processing of the fiber. This first nonlinear biosensor utilizes a change in the modulational instability (MI) gain spectrum (a shift of the Stokes- or anti-Stokes wavelength) caused by the selective capture of biomolecules by a sensor layer immobilised on the walls of the holes in the fiber. We find that such changes in the MI gain spectrum can be made detectable, and that engineering of the dispersion is important for optimizing the sensitivity. The nonlinear sensor shows a sensitivity of around 10.4 nm/nm, defined as the shift in resonance wavelength per nm biolayer, which is a factor of 7.5 higher than the hitherto only demonstrated label-free MOF biosensor.

Nonlinear soliton matching between optical fibers

In this Letter, we propose a generic nonlinear coupling coefficient, η(NL)²=η|γ/β₂|(fiber2)/|γ/β₂|(fiber1), which gives a quantitative measure for the efficiency of nonlinear matching of optical fibers by describing how a fundamental soliton couples from one fiber into another. Specifically, we use η(NL) to demonstrate a significant soliton self-frequency shift of a fundamental soliton, and we show that nonlinear matching can take precedence over linear mode matching. The nonlinear coupling coefficient depends on both the dispersion (β₂) and nonlinearity (γ), as well as on the power coupling efficiency η. Being generic, η(NL) enables engineering of general waveguide systems, e.g., for optimized Raman redshift or supercontinuum generation.

Supercontinuum: broad as a lamp, bright as a laser, now in the mid-infrared

Based on the experience gained developing our market leading visible spectrum supercontinuum sources NKT Photonics has built the first mid-infrared supercontinuum source based on modelocked picosecond fiber lasers. The source is pumped by a ≈ 2 um laser based on a combination of erbium and thulium and use ZBLAN fibers to generate a 1.75-4.4 μm spectrum. We will present results obtained by applying the source for mid-infrared microscopy where absorption spectra can be used to identify the chemical nature of different parts of a sample. Subsequently, we discuss the possible application of a mid-IR supercontinuum source in other areas including infrared countermeasures.

Influence of two-photon absorption on soliton self-frequency shift

In this paper we develop an analytical model for the soliton self-frequency shift, which includes second- and third-order dispersion, self-steepening, the full Raman term, and, for the first time to our best knowledge, the effect of two-photon absorption (TPA). We show that TPA can have a significant effect on soliton dynamics in soft-glass materials such as chalcogenides, by severely depleting a soliton and thereby limiting the achievable redshift. Based on the model, we derive a nonlinear loss length after which the redshift is effectively halted by TPA, which proves to be a useful design tool.

Stimulated Raman scattering in soft glass fluoride fibers

We have measured the absolute Raman gain spectrum in short fluoride soft glass fibers with a pump wavelength of 1650 nm. We found a peak gain of gR=4.0±2×10−14 m W−1.

Numerical demonstration of 3-12µm supercontinuum generation in large-core step-index chalcogenide fibers pumped at 4.5µm

We numerically demonstrate the generation of a 3-12µm mid-infrared supercontinuum in a large-core step-index fiber made from highly nonlinear chalcogenide (As2Se3) pumped at 4.5µm with 40ps, 1kW peak power pulses.

Nonlinear matching of solitons — Continued redshift between silica and soft-glass fibers

We present an analysis of nonlinear coupling between fibers. We introduce the nonlinear coupling coefficient and investigate solitons coupling from one fiber into another. We will also present simulated supercontinuum from concatenated fiber systems.