Generation of a Continuum Extending to the Midinfrared by Pumping ZBLAN Fiber With an Ultrafast 1550-nm Source

摘要

Pulses from a commercial erbium-doped fiber laser are coupled into a standard silica fiber and a standard fluoride fiber connected in series. By cascaded Raman soliton self-shifting, a continuum extending to a wavelength of approx3 (mu)m is generated. The total average power emitted in the 1.8-3.4-(mu)m range is 5 mW. Throughout the 1.4-2.9-(mu)m range, the average spectral power is approx4 (mu)Wm and higher, corresponding at 2.9 (mu)m to a spectral radiance approximately 4600 times that of a 3000 K blackbody.