Hervé Maillotte

Supercontinuum generation in air–silica microstructured fibers with nanosecond and femtosecond pulse pumping

We study the generation of supercontinua in air–silica microstructured fibers by both nanosecond and femtosecond pulse excitation. In the nanosecond experiments, a 300-nm broadband visible continuum was generated in a 1.8-m length of fiber pumped at 532 nm by 0.8-ns pulses from a frequency-doubled passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip laser. At this wavelength, the dominant mode excited under the conditions of continuum generation is the LP11 mode, and, with nanosecond pumping, self-phase modulation is negligible and the continuum generation is dominated by the interplay of Raman and parametric effects. The spectral extent of the continuum is well explained by calculations of the parametric gain curves for four-wave mixing about the zero-dispersion wavelength of the LP11 mode. In the femtosecond experiments, an 800-nm broadband visible and near-infrared continuum has been generated in a 1-m length of fiber pumped at 780 nm by 100-fs pulses from a Kerr-lens model-locked Ti:sapphire laser. At this wavelength, excitation and continuum generation occur in the LP01 mode, and the spectral width of the observed continuum is shown to be consistent with the phase-matching bandwidth for parametric processes calculated for this fiber mode. In addition, numerical simulations based on an extended nonlinear Schrodinger equation were used to model supercontinuum generation in the femtosecond regime, with the simulation results reproducing the major features of the experimentally observed spectrum.

Spectral broadening of a partially coherent CW laser beam in single-mode optical fibers

The nonlinear propagation of a partially coherent continuous-wave laser beam in single-mode optical fibers is investigated both theoretically and experimentally, with a special attention to the zero-dispersion wavelength region where modulation instability is expected. Broadband asymmetric spectral broadening is reported experimentally and found in fairly good agreement with a numerical Schrödinger simulation including a phase-diffusion model for the partially coherent beam. This model shows in addition that the underlying spectral broadening mechanism relies not only on modulation instability but also on the generation of high-order soliton-like pulses and dispersive waves. The coherence degradation which results from these ultrafast phenomena is confirmed by autocorrelation measurement.

Complete experimental characterization of stimulated Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fiber

We provide a complete experimental characterization of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a 160 m long solid-core photonic crystal fiber, including threshold and spectrum measurements as well as position-resolved mapping of the Brillouin frequency shift. In particular, a three-fold increase of the Brillouin threshold power is observed, in excellent agreement with the spectrally-broadened Brillouin gain spectrum. Distributed measurements additionally reveal that the rise of the Brillouin threshold results from the broadband nature of the gain spectrum all along the fiber and is strongly influenced by strain. Our experiments confirm that these unique fibers can be exploited for the passive control or the suppression of Brillouin scattering.

Generation of a broadband single-mode supercontinuum in a conventional dispersion-shifted fiber by use of a subnanosecond microchip laser

We report the experimental generation, simply by use of a subnanosecond microchip laser at 532 nm and a conventional dispersion-shifted fiber, of a supercontinuum that spans more than 1100 nm. We show by detailed spectral analysis that this supercontinuum originates from a preliminary four-wave mixing process with multimode phase matching and subsequent double-cascade stimulated Raman scattering and is transversely single mode as a result of Raman-induced mode competition. This technique is believed to be the simplest configuration that allows one to generate a stable supercontinuum.

Impact of pump phase modulation on the gain of fiber optical parametric amplifier

In practice, fiber optical parametric amplifiers are generally driven by a phase-modulated pump wave to avoid stimulated Brillouin back-scattering. We show both analytically and numerically that the phase modulation of the pump can induce strong parametric gain modulation and that this detrimental effect depends both on the rise-fall time of the phase modulator and on the fiber dispersion slope.

Guided acoustic wave Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fibers

We experimentally investigate guided acoustic wave Brillouin scattering in several photonic crystal fibers by use of the so-called fiber loop mirror technique and show a completely different dynamics with respect to standard all-silica fibers. In addition to the suppression of most acoustic phonons, we show that forward Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fibers is substantially enhanced only for the fundamental acoustic phonon because of efficient transverse acousto-optic field overlap. The results of our numerical simulations reveal that this high-frequency phonon is indeed trapped within the fiber core by the air-hole microstructure, in good agreement with experimental measurements.

Broadband and flat parametric amplifiers with a multisection dispersion-tailored nonlinear fiber arrangement

We describe a simple scheme to allow for the achievement of flat gain over ultrabroad bands with a single-pump fiber-optic parametric amplifier operating in the zero-dispersion wavelength region. The proposed method, based on a multisection dispersion-tailored in-line nonlinear fiber arrangement, is demonstrated by both modulational instability theory and numerical simulations of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. The results show that the design can be adjusted to generate gain bands that exceed either 100 nm with a ripple of less than 0.2 dB and for a pump power of only 500 mW, or even 200 nm when a pump power of 5 W is used. In addition, the robustness of this gain-flattening technique has been numerically checked against random fluctuations of the zero-dispersion wavelength in each of the fiber sections.

Impact of pump OSNR on noise figure for fiber-optical parametric amplifiers

Electrical measurements of the noise figure of a fiber-optical parametric amplifier are presented and compared with optical measurements. The transfer of pump noise by four-wave mixing was clearly demonstrated. A numerical model was developed to simulate the transfer of pump noise and validated by these measurements. Using this model, we determine, for practical systems, a minimum required pump optical signal-to-noise ratio of 65 dB.

Annular aperture arrays: study in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum

Baida and Van Labeke recently proposed a structure that exhibits a supertransmission of light through an array of nanometric coaxial apertures in a metallic film that has been named an annular aperture array (AAA) [Opt. Commun. 209, 17 (2002); Phys. Rev. B 67, 155314 (2003); J. Microsc. 213, 140 (2003)]. We present the first experimental study, to our knowledge, of an AAA structure in the visible region. For technological reasons, the structure under study does not produce a supertransmission of 80% as in Baida and Van Labeke [Opt. Commun. 209, 17 (2002)]. We built the nanostructure and experimentally recorded its far-field spectral response. This transmission shows only one broad band with a maximum around lambda = 700 nm, giving a maximum efficiency around 17%. A finite-difference time-domain simulation reproduces quite well the obtained transmission spectrum.

Spatiotemporal behavior of periodic arrays of spatial solitons in a planar waveguide with relaxing Kerr nonlinearity

We report picosecond pulsed experiments and numerical simulations of spatially induced modulational instability, which we used to form stable periodic arrays of bright soliton beams in a planar Kerr-like CS2 waveguide. We have found that the generation stage of these arrays is accurately described by the usual nonlinear Schrodinger wave equation, whereas the temporal dynamics of the nonlinearity is beneficial for subsequent stable propagation of the soliton arrays. In the picosecond regime the finite molecular relaxation time of the reorientational nonlinear index inhibits the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam recurrence predicted for an instantaneous Kerr nonlinearity. Moreover, the inhibition is associated with a novel spatiotemporal dynamics confirmed by numeric and streak-camera recordings.