Supercontinuum Generation by Stimulated Raman Scattering and Parametric Four-Wave Mixing in Photonic Crystal Fibers

Supercontinuum generation is investigated experimentally and numerically in a highly nonlinear indexguiding photonic crystal optical fiber in a regime in which self-phase modulation of the pump wave makes a negligible contribution to spectral broadening. An ultrabroadband octave-spanning white-light continuum is generated with 60-ps pump pulses of subkilowatt peak power. The primary mechanism of spectral broadening is identified as the combined action of stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing. The observation of a strong anti-Stokes Raman component reveals the importance of the coupling between stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers and also indicates that non-phase-matched processes contribute to the continuum. Additionally, the pump input polarization affects the generated continuum through the influence of polarization modulational instability. The experimental results are in good agreement with detailed numerical simulations. These findings demonstrate the importance of index-guiding photonic crystal fibers for the design of picosecond and nanosecond supercontinuum light sources. © 2002 Optical Society of America.

Continuous-wave operation of a modulational instability laser

post-deadline paper

Continuous-wave ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse train generation through modulational instability in a passive fiber cavity

Thanks to a passive cavity configuration, modulational instability in fibers is successfully observed, for the first time to our knowledge, in the continuous-wave regime. Our technique provides a new means of generating all-optically ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse trains and opens up new possibilities for the fundamental study of modulational instability and related phenomena. © 2001 Optical Society of America.