PHz-wide supercontinua of nondispersing subcycle pulses generated by extreme modulational instability

Modulational instability (MI) of 500 fs, 5 μJ pulses, propagating in gas-filled hollow-core kagome photonic crystal fiber, is studied numerically and experimentally. By tuning the pressure and launched energy, we control the duration of the pulses emerging as a consequence of MI and hence are able to study two regimes: the classical MI case leading to few-cycle solitons of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation; and an extreme case leading to the formation of nondispersing subcycle pulses (0.5 to 2 fs) with peak intensities of order 10(14) W cm(-2). Insight into the two regimes is obtained using a novel statistical analysis of the soliton parameters. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements show that, when a train of these pulses is generated, strong ionization of the gas occurs. This extreme MI is used to experimentally generate a high energy (>1 μJ) and spectrally broad supercontinuum extending from the deep ultraviolet (320 nm) to the infrared (1300 nm).