Broadband supercontinuum generation in lead silicate photonic crystal fibers employing optical pulses of 50Â W peak power

A unique solid core lead silicate photonic crystal fiber has been designed which promises to simultaneously exhibit large optical nonlinearity and almost uniform low dispersion. At 1064 and 1550 nm wavelengths, the fiber is expected to exhibit nonlinear coefficient ~ 1420 W-1 km-1 and ~ 923 W-1 km-1, respectively, and dispersion ~ 7 ps/km/nm and ~ 40 ps/km/nm, respectively. Employing numerical simulation, we have investigated supercontinuum (SC) generation in this fiber by pumping 1 ps and 50 fs pulses. An octave-spanning SC from 680 to 1500 nm is achievable at the end of 15 cm long fiber by pumping 50 fs pulses of 50 W peak power at 1064 nm. SC spectra from 1200 to 2600 nm are also achievable by pumping 50 fs pulses of 100 W peak power at 1550 nm. The simulated SC spectra due to 50 fs pulses are attributed to self-phase modulation. A flat spectrum from 650 to 980 nm is predicted due to pumping in the normal dispersion regime at 800 nm using 1 ps pulses of 300 W peak power in a 75 cm long fiber.