Multi-octave mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a small-core step-index chalcogenide fiber

Abstract

Recently mid-infrared (MIR) supercontinuum (SC) generation has increasingly become a hot research topic as MIR SC sources should provide both broad bandwidth and high brightness, which is essential for applications such as micro-spectroscopy. Ideally for this application, the source should cover most of the characteristic absorption bands used to distinguish different biological materials and this means that the range from at least 2.5 µm to around 10 µm (1000 cm−1 to 4000 cm−1) is necessary with high average power. In this abstract, we report the generation of MIR SC spanning from 1.5 µm to 10 µm in a robust small-core step-index chalcogenide fiber at a peak pump power of ~3768 W, which to our knowledge, is the furthest spectrum into the MIR generated in chalcogenides with a relatively low peak pump power.