Directly draw highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured fiber with diameter varying sharply in a short fiber length

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that it is feasible to draw the microstructured fiber with longitudinally varying diameter (FLVD) whose diameter varies sharply in a short fiber length. It is elucidated that during the fiber drawing process the tension is linearly proportional to the natural logarithm of the fiber drawing speed. As a result, the tension is not so sensitive to the fiber diameter. Moreover, this sensitivity can be decreased by using a large diameter ratio of preform to fiber. Owing to the low sensitivity the FLVD with diameter varying sharply in a short fiber length can be drawn directly from the preform. Additionally we show that the microstructural geometry of FLVD does not depend on the varying diameter. The deformation in microstructural geometry is determined by the fiber segment with the smallest diameter. We fabricate a FLVD of which the diameter decreases by 75% in a fiber length of 10 cm. By using this fiber we demonstrate the 600-1800 nm supercontinuum (SC) generation and the 532 nm second harmonic generation pumped by a picosecond fiber laser. The SC spectra by the conventional fibers with the largest and the smallest diameters of the FLVD are also shown, respectively. The comparisons show that the FLVD has the broadest SC spectrum due to its high nonlinearity, varying dispersion, and high damage threshold.