High spectral power femtosecond supercontinuum source by use of microlens array

Generation of a high spectral power supercontinuum (SC) is reported from controlled multifilamentation of femtosecond pulses in fused silica. The use of a microlens array allows the manipulation of the filamentation pattern under very high-incident laser pulse energy without sample damage and, consequently, compared with using a single focusing lens, higher power of SC generation with a similar spectral broadening can be obtained. Moreover, the role of the interplay between diffraction pattern and proximity to the focus of the microlens array in SC generation is discussed.