Hundred-watt level linearly polarized visible supercontinuum generation

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Laser Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Supercontinuum (SC) sources are crucial for various spectroscopic applications.
• Generating high-power, linearly polarized SC, especially in the visible spectrum, remains challenging.
• Existing methods for polarization characterization of SC are limited at high power levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate an all-fiber, linearly polarized supercontinuum laser source with unprecedented average output power.
• To characterize the spectral flatness and polarization extinction ratio (PER) of the generated SC across a broad wavelength range.
• To introduce a novel method for measuring the PER of individual wavelengths within a high-power broadband SC.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a polarization-maintaining picosecond Ytterbium-doped master oscillator power amplifier (PM-MOPA) as the pump source.
• Employed a 2.6 m long polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF) for SC generation.
• Developed and applied a new technique for high-power, wavelength-resolved PER measurements.

Main Results:

• Achieved an all-fiber linearly polarized SC laser source with 93 W average output power.
• Demonstrated a broad spectrum from 520 nm to 2300 nm, with a flat spectrum from 600 nm to 1880 nm (-10 dB level).
• Obtained high PER values: >16 dB from 900 nm to 1600 nm and >15 dB from 540 nm to 650 nm.

Conclusions:

• This work presents the first demonstration of a hundred-watt level linearly polarized visible SC source.
• The developed PER measurement technique is effective for characterizing broadband SC at high power.
• The high-power, linearly polarized SC source opens avenues for advanced spectroscopic and scientific research.