Supercontinuum generation by multiple scatterings at a group velocity horizon

Area of Science:

• Nonlinear Optics
• Laser Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Supercontinuum generation is crucial for various applications.
• Existing methods face limitations in bandwidth and coherence.
• A recent scheme showed octave-spanning supercontinua with high coherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extend the demonstrated supercontinuum generation scheme to cover the entire transparency region of fused silica.
• To investigate the impact of the Raman effect at extended bandwidths.
• To maintain high coherence properties in the generated supercontinuua.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a two-pulse collision scheme at a group velocity horizon.
• Exploiting the interaction between a dispersive wave and a soliton.
• Employing a cascaded collision process to compensate for detrimental Raman effects.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated supercontinua spanning the entire transparency region of fused silica (300–2300 nm).
• Demonstrated that the Raman effect, detrimental at these bandwidths, can be compensated.
• Maintained a high degree of coherence in the supercontinuum even under extreme bandwidth conditions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed two-pulse collision scheme is highly effective for generating ultra-broadband and highly coherent supercontinua.
• Cascaded collision processes offer a viable solution to mitigate nonlinear effects like Raman scattering.
• This advancement opens possibilities for new applications requiring broadband, coherent light sources across a wide spectral range.