August 2016
Spotlight Summary by Younggyun Jeong
Coherent octave-spanning mid-infrared supercontinuum generated in As2S3-silica double-nanospike waveguide pumped by femtosecond Cr:ZnS laser
Can we observe the vibration of molecules or distinguish specific components within a gas mixture? Broadband mid-infrared (mid-IR) sources enable us to access this molecular information. Supercontinuum generation is one of the most promising technique, since not only it provides an ultra-broadband spectrum but also has the potential for mid-IR frequency comb formation, a versatile tool for precision spectroscopy and optical metrology. In general, a mid-IR supercontinuum can be obtained whenever an optical pulse propagates in a highly nonlinear environment, thus experiencing a significant spectral broadening.
In previous work, the authors of this Optics Express article achieved mid-IR supercontinuum generation from a double-spike-shaped nanoscale As2S3-silica waveguide pumped by an erbium doped fiber laser (ref 17 in the article). This compact waveguide geometry provides high nonlinearity and excellent coupling properties with low threshold energy. To further improve the supercontinuum generation, in this article the authors report optimized dimensional parameters for the waveguide and adopt a mode-locked Cr:ZnS laser (central wavelength: 2.35 μm) pumped by an erbium doped fiber laser. With such a configuration, the nanospike waveguide allows to generate a spectrum that is twice broader when compared with a commercial As₂S₃ fiber system, with only one sixth of the pump pulse energy. It is expected that this stable and efficient supercontinuum generation technique can be employed in the realization of the first solid-state-laser-based mid-IR frequency comb.
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In previous work, the authors of this Optics Express article achieved mid-IR supercontinuum generation from a double-spike-shaped nanoscale As2S3-silica waveguide pumped by an erbium doped fiber laser (ref 17 in the article). This compact waveguide geometry provides high nonlinearity and excellent coupling properties with low threshold energy. To further improve the supercontinuum generation, in this article the authors report optimized dimensional parameters for the waveguide and adopt a mode-locked Cr:ZnS laser (central wavelength: 2.35 μm) pumped by an erbium doped fiber laser. With such a configuration, the nanospike waveguide allows to generate a spectrum that is twice broader when compared with a commercial As₂S₃ fiber system, with only one sixth of the pump pulse energy. It is expected that this stable and efficient supercontinuum generation technique can be employed in the realization of the first solid-state-laser-based mid-IR frequency comb.
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Article Information
Coherent octave-spanning mid-infrared supercontinuum generated in As2S3-silica double-nanospike waveguide pumped by femtosecond Cr:ZnS laser
Shangran Xie, Nikolai Tolstik, John C. Travers, Evgeni Sorokin, Celine Caillaud, Johann Troles, Philip St.J. Russell, and Irina T. Sorokina
Opt. Express 24(11) 12406-12413 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF