Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear silica fibres based on cost-effective fibre amplifiers

We report a simple method for supercontinuum generation. The set-up consists of an Er-doped mode-locked fibre laser, used as seed, and a highly nonlinear fibre with zero dispersion at 1550 nm. Thus, all the components are easily attainable. With this novel system the requirements in terms of control of dispersion are reduced. In addition, the spectral width is optimized using fibres with positive and negative dispersion. The supercontinuum emission is characterized by means of an optical spectrum analyser and a PbS photodetector, showing an octave-spanning spectral width, with a flat profile from 1100 nm up to 2100 nm. Compared to other supercontinuum sources, this new proposal results in a very competitive and attainable system, particularly in the 1500–2100 nm region.

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