Numerical simulation for optimizing mode shaping and supercontinuum flatness of liquid filled seven-core photonic crystal fibers

A seven-core photonic crystal fiber filled with commercial index-matching liquids is designed to optimize mode shaping and supercontinuum flatness. Numerical simulation of supercontinuum generation in these liquid-filled seven-core PCFs is conducted at 25 °C. The definition of spectral flatness measure is used to quantitatively describe SC flatness. Numerical simulations are performed to study the propagation of femtosecond pulse in the liquid-filled seven-core PCFs. Results show that mode shaping and supercontinuum flatness can be easily optimized and modified using the index-matching liquids in seven-core PCF without varying the structure of the air rings around the guiding cores. Simulations also show that 50 fs pulses with a center wavelength of 1064 nm generate relatively flat SC spectra in the 25 cm-long liquid-filled PCF. A flat spectral bandwidth of 400 nm (900-1300 nm) is achieved with an applied pump power of 30 kW. The simulation results demonstrate that using index-matching liquids to fill the inner ring of the seven-core PCF optimizes mode shaping and generates flat SC spectrum in specified wavelength region. Results further demonstrate that the SC flatness increased with increasing PCF dispersion corresponding to pump wavelength, on the premise that generated enough spectrum width, when the pump worked in the normal dispersion region. Temperature barely affects the spectrum flatness, but can affect spectrum broadening.