Highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers for optical coherence tomography applications

We propose a simple highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber in optical coherence tomography window. Based on the finite difference method, different properties of highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers are calculated. It is demonstrated that the nonlinear coefficients more than 64 and 55 [Wkm]⁻¹ at 1.06 µm and 1.31 ??m, respectively, with flattened chromatic dispersion of 0 ± 3.7 ps/(nm.km) and low confinement losses less than 10⁻⁹ dB/m, simultaneously. It is also shown that small chromatic dispersion value and nearly zero dispersion slop provide the possibility of efficient supercontinuum generation in the optical coherence tomography window using a few ps pulses.