No Arabic abstract
On-chip ultraviolet to infrared (UV-IR) spectrum frequency metrology is of crucial importance as a characterization tool for fundamental studies on quantum physics, chemistry, and biology. Due to the strong material dispersion, traditional techniques fail to demonstrate the device that can be applied to generate coherent broadband spectrum that covers the full UV-IR wavelengths. In this work, we explore several novel techniques for supercontinuum generation covering near-UV to near-IR spectrum using AlN micro-photonic waveguides, which is essential for frequency metrology applications: First, to create anomalous dispersion, high order mode (TE10) was adopted, together with its carefully designed high efficiency excitation strategies. Second, the spectrum was broadened by soliton fission through third order dispersion and second harmonic generation, by which directional energy transfer from near-IR to near-UV can be obtained. Finally, high quality single crystalline AlN material was used to provide broadband transparency from UV to IR. Under decently low pulse energy of 0.36 nJ, the experimental spectrum from supercontinuum generation covers from 490 nm to over 1100 nm, with a second harmonic generation band covering from 405 nm to 425 nm. This work paves the way towards UV-IR full spectrum on-chip frequency metrology applications.
We demonstrate the generation of a low-noise, octave-spanning mid-infrared supercontinuum from 1700 to 4800 nm by injecting femtosecond pulses into the normal dispersion regime of a multimode step-index chalcogenide fiber with 100 $mu$m core diameter. We conduct a systematic study of the intensity noise across the supercontinuum spectrum and show that the initial fluctuations of the pump laser are at most amplified by a factor of three. We also perform a comparison with the noise characteristics of an octave-spanning supercontinuum generated in the anomalous dispersion regime of a multimode fluoride fiber with similar core size and show that the all-normal dispersion supercontinuum in the multimode chalcogenide fiber has superior noise characteristics. Our results open up novel perspective for many practical applications such as long-distance remote sensing where high power and low noise are paramount.
We experimentally show octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a non-stoichiometric silicon-rich nitride waveguide when pumped by femtosecond pulses from an erbium fiber laser. The pulse energy and bandwidth are comparable to results achieved in stoichiometric silicon nitride waveguides, but our material platform is simpler to manufacture. We also observe wave-breaking supercontinuum generation by using orthogonal pumping in the same waveguide. Additional analysis reveals that the waveguide height is a powerful tuning parameter for generating mid-infrared dispersive waves while keeping the pump in the telecom band.
We use dispersive Fourier transformation to measure shot-to-shot spectral instabilities in femtosecond supercontinuum generation. We study both the onset phase of supercontinuum generation with distinct dispersive wave generation, as well as a highly-unstable supercontinuum regime spanning an octave in bandwidth. Wavelength correlation maps allow interactions between separated spectral components to be identified, even when such interactions are not apparent in shot-to-shot or average measurements. Experimental results are interpreted using numerical simulations. Our results show the clear advantages of dispersive Fourier transformation for studying spectral noise during supercontinuum generation.
Bright and broadband coherent mid-IR radiation is important for exciting and probing molecular vibrations. Using cascaded nonlinearities in conventional quadratic nonlinear crystal like lithium niobate, self-defocusing near-IR solitons have been demonstrated that led to very broadband supercontinuum generation in the visible, near-IR and short-wavelength mid-IR. Here we conduct an experiment where a mid-IR crystal pumped in the mid-IR gives multiple-octave spanning supercontinua. The crystal is cut for noncritical interaction, so the three-wave mixing of a single mid-IR femtosecond pump source leads to highly phase-mismatched second-harmonic generation. This self-acting cascaded process leads to the formation of a self-defocusing soliton at the mid-IR pump wavelength and after the self-compression point multiple octave-spanning supercontinua are observed (covering 1.6-$7.0~mu$m). The results were recorded in a commercially available crystal LiInS$_2$ pumped in the 3-$4~mu$m range, but other mid-IR crystals can readily be used as well.
The field of attosecond science was first enabled by nonlinear compression of intense laser pulses to a duration below two optical cycles. Twenty years later, creating such short pulses still requires state-of-the-art few-cycle laser amplifiers to most efficiently exploit instantaneous optical nonlinearities in noble gases for spectral broadening and parametric frequency conversion. Here, we show that nonlinear compression can in fact be much more efficient when driven in molecular gases by pulses substantially longer than a few cycles, due to enhanced optical nonlinearity associated with rotational alignment. We use 80-cycle pulses from an industrial-grade laser amplifier to simultaneously drive molecular alignment and supercontinuum generation in a gas-filled capillary, producing more than two octaves of coherent bandwidth and achieving >45-fold compression to a duration of 1.7 cycles. As the enhanced nonlinearity is linked to rotational motion, the dynamics can be exploited for long-wavelength frequency conversion and compressing picosecond lasers.