Abstract

Much current interest is focusing on the generation of supercontinuum (SC) using picosecond pulses as these can be generated using a variety of compact and relatively inexpensive pump sources [1]. With such long pulses, however, the generated SC typically suffers from large shot-to-variations induced by noise-seeded modulation instability processes, and this can limit the potential application of the generated broadband spectra [2]. Here, we use physical arguments and numerical simulations to examine in detail the degree to which stability of the output SC spectra can be modified through a suitable input pulse modulation. Our major result is that by imposing a suitable modulation it is possible to generate a near-octave spanning frequency comb with high stability and coherence using pulses with tens of picosecond duration.

© 2009 IEEE