Tunable vacuum-UV to visible ultrafast pulse source based on gas-filled Kagome-PCF.

An efficient and tunable 176-550 nm source based on the emission of resonant dispersive radiation from ultrafast solitons at 800 nm is demonstrated in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). By careful optimization and appropriate choice of gas, informed by detailed numerical simulations, we show that bright, high quality, localized bands of UV light (relative widths of a few percent) can be generated at all wavelengths across this range. Pulse energies of more than 75 nJ in the deep-UV, with relative bandwidths of ~3%, are generated from pump pulses of a few μJ. Excellent agreement is obtained between numerical and experimental results. The effects of positive and negative axial pressure gradients are also experimentally studied, and the coherence of the deep-UV dispersive wave radiation numerically investigated.

[1]  Martin Garmund,et al.  Generation of Cerenkov radiation at 850 nm in higher-order-mode fiber , 2010, CLEO/QELS: 2010 Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[2]  C. Homann,et al.  Generation of 30 fs pulses tunable from 189 to 240 nm with an all-solid-state setup , 2012 .

[3]  Paul L. Kelley,et al.  Nonlinear pulse compression in optical fibers: scaling laws and numerical analysis , 2002 .

[4]  M Lehtonen,et al.  Route to broadband blue-light generation in microstructured fibers. , 2005, Optics letters.

[5]  John M Dudley,et al.  Coherence properties of supercontinuum spectra generated in photonic crystal and tapered optical fibers. , 2002, Optics letters.

[6]  Karpman.  Radiation by solitons due to higher-order dispersion. , 1993, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[7]  P. Russell,et al.  Ultrafast nonlinear optics in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers [Invited] , 2011 .

[8]  Thomas Brabec,et al.  A perturbative theory of soliton propagation in the presence of third order dispersion , 1995 .

[9]  J V Moloney,et al.  Nonlinear optical pulse propagation simulation: from Maxwell's to unidirectional equations. , 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[10]  Y. Q. Xu,et al.  Cascaded phase matching and nonlinear symmetry breaking in fiber frequency combs. , 2012, Physical review letters.

[11]  Katsumi Midorikawa,et al.  Generation of sub-10-fs, 5-mJ-optical pulses using a hollow fiber with a pressure gradient , 2005 .

[12]  G Korn,et al.  Experimental evidence for supercontinuum generation by fission of higher-order solitons in photonic fibers. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[13]  J. Dudley,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber , 2006 .

[14]  Jonathan Knight,et al.  Pulse breaking and supercontinuum generation with 200-fs pump pulses in photonic crystal fibers , 2002 .

[15]  Haohua Tu,et al.  Optical frequency up-conversion by supercontinuum-free widely-tunable fiber-optic Cherenkov radiation. , 2009, Optics express.

[16]  Paul Kinsler.  Optical pulse propagation with minimal approximations , 2010 .

[17]  Benjamin J Eggleton,et al.  Dispersive wave blue-shift in supercontinuum generation. , 2006, Optics express.

[18]  Generation of ultraviolet broadband light in a single-mode fiber , 2006 .

[19]  H. H. Chen,et al.  Nonlinear pulse propagation in the neighborhood of the zero-dispersion wavelength of monomode optical fibers. , 1986, Optics letters.

[20]  P. Russell,et al.  Influence of ionization on ultrafast gas-based nonlinear fiber optics. , 2011, Optics express.

[21]  P St J Russell,et al.  Bright spatially coherent wavelength-tunable deep-UV laser source using an Ar-filled photonic crystal fiber. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[22]  Richard A. Schwarz,et al.  Nonlinear conversion of Ti:sapphire laser wavelengths , 1995 .

[23]  Philipp Hölzer,et al.  Theory of photoionization-induced blueshift of ultrashort solitons in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[24]  Ilaria Cristiani,et al.  Dispersive wave generation by solitons in microstructured optical fibers. , 2004, Optics express.

[25]  A. Husakou,et al.  Supercontinuum generation of higher-order solitons by fission in photonic crystal fibers. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[26]  E. Marcatili,et al.  Hollow metallic and dielectric waveguides for long distance optical transmission and lasers , 1964 .

[27]  Ilaria Cristiani,et al.  Blue light and infrared continuum generation by soliton fission in a microstructured fiber , 2003 .

[28]  Anton Husakou,et al.  Guiding properties and dispersion control of kagome lattice hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. , 2009, Optics express.

[29]  P. St. J. Russell,et al.  Extreme supercontinuum generation to the deep-UV , 2011, 2011 International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC) and Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) Pacific Rim incorporating the Australasian Conference on Optics, Lasers and Spectroscopy and the Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology.

[30]  F. Kartner,et al.  Fiber-optic Cherenkov radiation in the few-cycle regime , 2011, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[31]  Karlsson,et al.  Cherenkov radiation emitted by solitons in optical fibers. , 1995, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[32]  Franz X Kärtner,et al.  Highly efficient Cherenkov radiation in photonic crystal fibers for broadband visible wavelength generation. , 2010, Optics letters.

[33]  Anton Husakou,et al.  High-power soliton-induced supercontinuum generation and tunable sub-10-fs VUV pulses from kagome-lattice HC-PCFs. , 2010, Optics express.

[34]  G. Wong,et al.  Pressure-controlled phase matching to third harmonic in Ar-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. , 2010, Optics letters.

[35]  J. Thøgersen,et al.  Initial steps of supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers , 2003 .