Experimental and numerical analysis of white light generation in an air-silica photonic crystal fibre

Properties of white light continuum generation are investigated experimentally and numerically in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibre (PCF). The initial stage of an ultra broad-band supercontinuum generation (SCG) in normal and anomalous dispersion regime is pointed out. We found that, for low pump power, the symmetric broadening is mainly due to the effect of self phase modulation. With the increase of the pump power, we have observed the Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman components giving rise to the spectral broadening. We obtained an optimum SCG of 1100 nm broadening in a short PCF length (around 45 cm) and low power energy (pj range). Good agreement between numerical and experimental results has been found.