Near-infrared supercontinnum generation in single-mode nonlinear Yb(3+)-doped fiber amplifier

Near-infrared supercontinnum (SC) generation, accompanied with several emission bands at visible and ultraviolet, is experimentally investigated in an all-fiber single-mode Yb(3+)-doped silica fiber MOPA. The seed is an all-normal-dispersion mode-locked Yb(3+)-doped single-mode fiber laser using a nonlinear polarization evolution mechanism. With the pump power of several hundreds of milliwatts, SC spanning of 1010 nm to 1600 nm was generated in a 20-m single-mode germano-zirconia-silica Yb(3+)-doped fiber amplifier. The intensive nonlinear effects, namely stimulated Raman scattering, four wave mixing, and self-phase modulation, enable the SC generation in the small-core fiber amplifier without the use of photonic crystal fibers or tapered fibers. Such a compact and cost-effective SC generation system enables applications in optical coherent tomography, optical metrology, and nonlinear microscopy.