Title :
Generation of a continuum extending to the midinfrared by pumping ZBLAN fiber with an ultrafast 1550-nm source
Author :
Hagen, C.L. ; Walewski, J.W. ; Sanders, S.T.
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Abstract :
Pulses from a commercial erbium-doped fiber laser are coupled into a standard silica fiber and a standard fluoride fiber connected in series. By cascaded Raman soliton self-shifting, a continuum extending to a wavelength of /spl sim/3 μm is generated. The total average power emitted in the 1.8-3.4-μm range is 5 mW. Throughout the 1.4-2.9-μm range, the average spectral power is /spl sim/4 μW/nm and higher, corresponding at 2.9 μm to a spectral radiance approximately 4600 times that of a 3000 K blackbody.
Keywords :
Raman spectra; aluminium compounds; barium compounds; erbium; high-speed optical techniques; infrared sources; lanthanum compounds; optical fibre amplifiers; optical pumping; optical solitons; red shift; silicon compounds; sodium compounds; supercontinuum generation; zirconium compounds; 1.4 to 3.4 mum; 1550 nm; 3000 K; 5 mW; SiO/sub 2/:Er; ZBLAN; ZBLAN fiber pumping; ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF; blackbody; cascaded Raman soliton self-shifting; continuum generation; erbium-doped fiber laser; infrared supercontinuum emitters; midinfrared spectrum; spectral radiance; standard fluoride fiber; standard silica fiber; ultrafast source; Erbium-doped fiber lasers; Instruments; Optical coupling; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Pump lasers; Silicon compounds; Solitons; Spectroscopy; Supercontinuum generation; Erbium-doped fiber laser; fluoride; picosecond; supercontinuum;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LPT.2005.860390
