Philip S. Light

Generation and Photonic Guidance of Multi-Octave Optical-Frequency Combs

Ultrabroad coherent comb-like optical spectra spanning several octaves are a chief ingredient in the emerging field of attoscience. We demonstrate generation and guidance of a three-octave spectral comb, spanning wavelengths from 325 to 2300 nanometers, in a hydrogen-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The waveguidance results not from a photonic band gap but from the inhibited coupling between the core and cladding modes. The spectrum consists of up to 45 high-order Stokes and anti-Stokes lines and is generated by driving the confined gas with a single, moderately powerful (10-kilowatt) infrared laser, producing 12-nanosecond-duration pulses. This represents a reduction by six orders of magnitude in the required laser powers over previous equivalent techniques and opens up a robust and much simplified route to synthesizing attosecond pulses.

Large-pitch kagome-structured hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

We report the fabrication and characterization of a new type of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber based on large-pitch (approximately 12 microm) kagome lattice cladding. The optical characteristics of the 19-cell, 7-cell, and single-cell core defect fibers include broad optical transmission bands covering the visible and near-IR parts of the spectrum with relatively low loss and low chromatic dispersion, no detectable surface modes and high confinement of light in the core. Various applications of such a novel fiber are also discussed, including gas sensing, quantum optics, and high harmonic generation.

Electromagnetically-induced transparency grid in acetylene-filled hollow-core PCF

We report a set of experimental observations on electromagnetically induced transparency in acetylene filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, involving both Lambda-type and V-type interactions over several lines of the R-branch of the nu1 + nu3 ro-vibrational overtone band. Transparency as high as ~70% was achieved. A theoretical account of the sources of decoherence shows that collisions with the inner wall of the fiber core and laser frequency-jitter dominate the coherence decay.

Reduction of Fresnel Back-Reflection at Splice Interface Between Hollow Core PCF and Single-Mode Fiber

Optical feedback from the Fresnel reflection at the air-silica interface of a splice between a hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) and a conventional fiber can cause laser instability or damage. The reported solution consists of the preparation of angle cleaved fibers, spliced together using a filament fusion splicer. A reduction of 44 dB of the return loss is observed. The method will considerably reduce potential damage such as fiber fusion in case of a fiber laser. The method is also demonstrated to decrease the Fabry-Perot effect in setups such as saturable absorption when the spliced HC-PCF is used as a gas cell device.

A phase-stabilized carbon nanotube fiber laser frequency comb

A frequency comb generated by a 167 MHz repetition frequency erbium-doped fiber ring laser using a carbon nanotube saturable absorber is phase-stabilized for the first time. Measurements of the in-loop phase noise show an integrated phase error on the carrier envelope offset frequency of 0.35 radians. The carbon nanotube fiber laser comb is compared with a CW laser near 1533 nm stabilized to the nu(1) + nu(3) overtone transition in an acetylene-filled kagome photonic crystal fiber reference, while the CW laser is simultaneously compared to another frequency comb based on a Cr:Forsterite laser. These measurements demonstrate that the stability of a GPS-disciplined Rb clock is transferred to the comb, resulting in an upper limit on the locked combs frequency instability of 1.2 x 10(-11) in 1 s, and a relative instability of <3 x 10(-12) in 1 s. The carbon nanotube laser frequency comb offers much promise as a robust and inexpensive all-fiber frequency comb with potential for scaling to higher repetition frequencies.

Low optical insertion-loss and vacuum-pressure all-fiber acetylene cell based on hollow-core photonic crystal fiber.

We report a novel and easy-to-implement hollow-core photonic crystal fiber cell fabrication technique based on helium diffusion through silica. The formed gas cells combine low optical insertion loss (1.8 dB) and vacuum acetylene pressure (microbar regime). The estimates of the final gas pressure, using both Voigt interpolation and electromagnetically induced transparency, show a good match with the initial fitting pressure.

10 kHz accuracy of an optical frequency reference based on (C2H2)-C-12-filled large-core kagome photonic crystal fibers

Saturated absorption spectroscopy reveals the narrowest features so far in molecular gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The 48-68 mum core diameter of the kagome-structured fiber used here allows for 8 MHz full-width half-maximum sub-Doppler features, and its wavelength-insensitive transmission is suitable for high-accuracy frequency measurements. A fiber laser is locked to the (12)C2H2 nu(1); + nu(3) P(13) transition inside kagome fiber, and compared with frequency combs based on both a carbon nanotube fiber laser and a Cr:forsterite laser, each of which are referenced to a GPS-disciplined Rb oscillator. The absolute frequency of the measured line center agrees with those measured in power build-up cavities to within 9.3 kHz (1 sigma error), and the fractional frequency instability is less than 1.2 x 10(-11) at 1 s averaging time.

Double photonic bandgap hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

We report on the design, fabrication and characterization of hollow-core photonic crystal fiber with two robust bandgaps that bridge the benchmark laser wavelengths of 1064 nm and 1550 nm. The higher-order bandgap arises due to the extremely thin struts of the silica cladding and their fine-tuning relative to the apex size. The optimum strut thickness was found to be approximately one hundredth of the cladding pitch.

Fourth-order dispersion mediated solitonic radiations in HC-PCF cladding

We observe experimentally, for the first time to our knowledge, the simultaneous emission of two strong conjugate resonant dispersive waves by optical solitons. The effect is observed in a small waveguiding glass feature within the cladding of a Kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. We demonstrate theoretically that the phenomenon is attributed to the unusually high fourth-order dispersion coefficient of the waveguiding feature.

Compact and portable multiline UV and visible Raman lasers in hydrogen-filled HC-PCF

We present a very compact multi-line Raman-laser with broad spectral coverage from near-IR through to the much sought after yellow, deep blue and UV. Each line of the laser exhibits high power density which is ideal for forensics and biomedical applications requiring narrow-linewidth and high-power at several discrete wavelengths.