Suspended core tellurite glass optical fibers for infrared supercontinuum generation

We report the fabrication and characterization of tellurite TeO2–ZnO–Na2O (TZN) microstructured suspended core optical fibers (MOFs). These fibers are designed for infrared supercontinuum generation with zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) at 1.45 μm. The measured losses at this wavelength are approximately 6 dB/m for a MOF with a 2.2 μm diameter core. The effective area of a particular fiber is 3.5 μm2 and the nonlinear coefficient is calculated to be 437 W−1km−1. By pumping a 20 cm long fiber at 1.56 μm with a sub-nJ femtosecond laser source, we generate a supercontinuum (SC) spanning over 800 nm in the 1–2 μm wavelength range.

► In this study we fabricate the tellurite optical fibers with a suspended core.
► We design the fibers for infrared supercontinuum generation.
► We characterize the linear and nonlinear properties of the microstructured fibers.
► We conclude that we generate a supercontinuum in the important 1–2 μm wavelength range.