Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in infrared by MoS2-filled hollow core fiber

Abstract

We report the generation of an infrared (IR) supercontinuum spanning over an octave using a centimeter (6 cm) length of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) filled with MoS2, which has a considerably large nonlinear refractive index. The fiber is pumped with a femto-second laser pulse with an infrared wavelength of 2080 nm, pumping intensity of 336.76 GW/cm2, peak power of 0.75 GW, and pulse width of 150 fs. With the assistance of highly nonlinear MoS2, a supercontinuum bandwidth that remarkably extends from 1400 to 2700 nm below 20 dB is achieved. This supercontinuum bandwidth significantly exceeds the previously reported spectra for other nonlinear glass-based optical fibers, even with a fairly short fiber length. Furthermore, this short fiber length allows PCF to be more efficiently utilized, and is expected to be suitable for various applications, such as broadband light source through liquid-based fibers and waveguide-based optical communications, especially in the IR region.