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Generation of an ultrabroadband supercontinuum in the mid-infrared region using dispersion-engineered GeAsSe photonic crystal fiber

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Abstract

An ultrabroadband mid-infrared (MIR) region supercontinuum (SC) is demonstrated numerically through dispersion-engineered traditional chalcogenide (ChG) photonic crystal fiber (PCF). By varying structural parameters pitch (hole to hole spacing) and air-hole diameter to pitch ratio, a number of 10-mm-long hexagonal PCFs made employing GeAsSe ChG glass as a core and air-holes of hexagonal lattice running through their lengths as a cladding are optimized to predict an efficient mid-infrared region SC spectral emission by pumping them using a tunable pump source between 2.9 and 3.3 µm. Simulations are carried out using an ultrashort pump pulse of 100-fs duration with a low pulse peak powers of between 3 and 4 kW into the optimized designs. It is found through numerical analysis that efficient SC spectral broadening with flattened output can be obtained by increasing the PCF pitch rather than increasing the PCF cladding containing air-hole diameter although a larger nonlinear coefficient could be obtained through increasing air-hole diameter of an optimized design. Simulation results show that the SC spectra can be broadened up to 12.2 µm for a certain design with a peak power of 3 kW. Using a peak power of 4 kW, it is possible to obtain SC spectral broadening beyond 14 µm with an optimized design spanning the wavelength range from 1.8 to 14 µm which covers the electromagnetic spectrum required for MIR molecular fingerprint region applications such as sensing and biological imaging.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) under the Grants GA 010-2014 (ULUNG) and the University of Malaya under the Grants RP029B-15 AFR and RU001-2017. We would also like to thank the City, University of London for providing support for this work under the Newton Fund Grant IF026-2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonics Research Centre, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    H. Ahmad & M. R. Karim

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia

    H. Ahmad

  3. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, City University of London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, UK

    S. Ghosh & B. M. A. Rahman

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  1. H. Ahmad
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Ahmad, H., Karim, M.R., Ghosh, S. et al. Generation of an ultrabroadband supercontinuum in the mid-infrared region using dispersion-engineered GeAsSe photonic crystal fiber. Opt Quant Electron 50, 405 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-018-1674-y

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