US 12,001,051 B2
Long wavelength generation in optical fiber
Peter Morten Moselund, Copenhagen (DK)
Assigned to NKT PHOTONICS A/S, Birkerod (DK)
Appl. No. 14/416,887
Filed by NKT Photonics A/S, Birkerød (DK)
PCT Filed Jul. 22, 2013, PCT No. PCT/DK2013/050248
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 23, 2015,
PCT Pub. No. WO2014/015877, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 30, 2014.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/674,475, filed on Jul. 23, 2012.
Prior Publication US 2015/0192732 A1, Jul. 9, 2015
Int. Cl. G02F 1/35 (2006.01); G02B 6/02 (2006.01); G02F 1/365 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 6/02214 (2013.01) [G02F 1/3513 (2013.01); G02F 1/353 (2013.01); G02F 1/365 (2013.01); G02F 1/3528 (2021.01)] 31 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A supercontinuum light source comprising a pump light source arranged to emit pump light and a nonlinear fiber having a core arranged to receive the pump light wherein said pump light and nonlinear fiber are arranged so that a supercontinuum comprising infrared wavelengths is generated in said nonlinear fiber from said pump light, said nonlinear fiber having a dispersion profile, the dispersion profile comprising:
a. a shortest zero dispersion wavelength ZDW equal to or longer than 1600 nm,
b. a positive peak value at a peak wavelength longer than said zero dispersion wavelength ZDW, and
c. a minimum value of dispersion Dmin at a minimum wavelength longer than 2 μm,
wherein said nonlinear fiber is a step-index fiber and is transparent at a wavelength longer than 3 μm, wherein said core of said nonlinear fiber comprises fluoride glass comprising InF3, and wherein said pump light is arranged to comprise energy at one or more preferred pump wavelengths which are longer than said zero dispersion wavelength ZDW by 150 nm or more, whereby said dispersion profile causes a soliton red-shift that occurs when said supercontinuum is generated in said nonlinear fiber to be most accelerated at wavelengths at which Raman based soliton energy loss and an increasing mode field diameter cause the soliton red-shift to slow down, thereby overcoming said soliton red-shift slow down and enabling the soliton red-shift to continue to longer infrared wavelengths.