1.06 µm picosecond pulsed, normal dispersion pumping for generating efficient broadband infrared supercontinuum in meter-length single-mode tellurite holey fiber with high Raman gain coefficient

Abstract

We investigate efficient broadband infrared supercontinuum generation in meter-length single-mode small-core tellurite holey fiber. The fiber is pumped by 1.06µm picosecond pulses in the normal dispersion region. The high Raman gain coefficient and the broad Raman gain bands of the tellurite glass are exploited to generate a cascade of Raman Stokes orders, which initiate in the highly normal dispersion region and quickly extend to longer wavelengths across the zero dispersion wavelength with increasing pump power. A broadband supercontinuum from 1.06µm to beyond 1.70µm is generated. The effects of the pump power and of the fiber length on the spectrum and on the power conversion efficiency from the pump to the supercontinuum are discussed. Power scaling indicates that using this viable normal dispersion pumping scheme, 9.5 W average output power of infrared supercontinuum and more than 60% conversion efficiency can be obtained from a 1 m long tellurite fiber with a large mode area of 500µm2