High-power completely fiber integrated super-continuum sources (Invited Paper)

Advances in high power fibre lasers and amplifiers and in novel non-linear fibres that can be readily integrated with such pumps have led to a family of high power super-continuum sources that extend throughout the complete window of transparency of silica based fibres. The systems have been operated femtosecond, picosecond and nanosecond as well as cw. Average powers of 10’s Watts can be easily achieved, giving flat spectral power densities in excess of 10’s mW per nm from 400 nm to beyond 2.2 μm.