CW 7-W 900-nm-wide supercontinuum source by phosphosilicate fiber Raman laser and high-nonlinear fiber

High-power, continuous-wave (CW) supercontinuum spanning from 1200 to 2100 nm has been generated in an all-fiber configuration. The output of a CW 8-W phosphosilicate fiber Raman laser at 1556 nm was efficiently converted to the supercontinuum in the successive high-nonlinear dispersion-shift fiber with the zero-dispersion wavelength of 1539 nm. The fiber-length and input-power dependences were investigated, and both the spectral broadening and continuum power are found to be strongly affected by the 2220-nm absorption band in silica. An average power of 6.8 W and a 20-dB bandwidth of 900 nm were obtained from the optimal 150-m fiber length. Very flat spectral intensity of 10±1 mW/nm from 1640 to 2015 nm is also a noteworthy feature. Raman-assisted four-wave mixing driven by modulation instability is the most possible mechanism of the presented CW supercontinuum generation and well explains the spectral cutoffs.

[1]  C. Jørgensen,et al.  High-power supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear, dispersion-shifted fibers by use of a continuous-wave Raman fiber laser. , 2004, Optics letters.

[2]  Pedro Corredera,et al.  Supercontinuum generation using a continuous-wave Raman fiber laser , 2003 .

[3]  Govind P. Agrawal,et al.  Nonlinear Fiber Optics , 1989 .

[4]  A. Stentz,et al.  Visible continuum generation in air–silica microstructure optical fibers with anomalous dispersion at 800 nm , 2000 .

[5]  David J. Richardson,et al.  A 103 W erbium-ytterbium co-doped large-core fiber laser , 2003 .

[6]  T. Sylvestre,et al.  Cascaded Raman generation in optical fibers: influence of chromatic dispersion and Rayleigh backscattering. , 2004, Optics letters.

[7]  T. Sylvestre,et al.  Numerical modeling of a four-wave-mixing-assisted Raman fiber laser. , 2004, Optics letters.

[8]  Jiangde Peng,et al.  Broadband source generated by stimulated Raman scattering and four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear optical fiber ring cavity. , 2004, Optics letters.

[9]  Akira Shirakawa,et al.  Large-mode-area erbium-ytterbium-doped photonic-crystal fiber amplifier for high-energy femtosecond pulses at 1.55 microm. , 2005, Optics express.

[10]  J R Taylor,et al.  Continuous-wave, high-power, Raman continuum generation in holey fibers. , 2003, Optics letters.

[11]  Sergey L. Semjonov,et al.  CW high power 1.24 /spl mu/m and 1.48 /spl mu/m Raman lasers based on low loss phosphosilicate fibre , 1997 .

[12]  J. R. Taylor,et al.  Temporal and noise characteristics of continuous-wave-pumped continuum generation in holey fibers around 1300nm , 2004 .

[13]  P. V. Mamyshev,et al.  Mutual influence of the parametric effects and stimulated Raman scattering in optical fibers , 1990 .

[14]  M. Nishimura,et al.  Silica-based functional fibers with enhanced nonlinearity and their applications , 1999 .

[15]  Jens Limpert,et al.  High average power supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers , 2003 .

[16]  C. Headley,et al.  Pulsed and continuous-wave supercontinuum generation in highly nonlinear, dispersion-shifted fibers , 2003 .

[17]  Norihiko Nishizawa,et al.  Widely Broadened Super Continuum Generation Using Highly Nonlinear Dispersion Shifted Fibers and Femtosecond Fiber Laser , 2001 .

[18]  O. Medvedkov,et al.  Laser-diode-pumped phosphosilicate-fiber Raman laser with an output power of 1 W at 1.48 mum. , 1999, Optics letters.

[19]  Nam Seong Kim,et al.  Ultra-Broadband CW Supercontinuum Generation Centered at 1483.4 nm from Brillouin/Raman Fiber Laser , 2000 .

[20]  A. Shirakawa,et al.  Supercontinuum generation using Raman fiber laser , 2003 .

[21]  J R Taylor,et al.  Generation of multiwatt, broadband continua in holey fibers. , 2002, Optics letters.