Watt-level supercontinuum generation in As2Se3 fibers pumped by a 2-micron random fiber laser

摘要

Chalcogenide fibers are good candidates for generating supercontinuum (SC) radiation due to their large nonlinear refractive indices and high mid-infrared transmission, but their low damage thresholds hamper the SC power scaling, thereby limiting the ultimately achieved SC brightness. Here, we report an As2Se3 fiber SC system pumped by a novel random Q-switched 2 mu m Tm3+ fiber laser. The maximum SC output power is 1.09 W with slope efficiency of 24%, and the SC spans from similar to 1980 to similar to 2500 nm with a spectral width of similar to 500 nm at the -20 dB points. The spectral power density is similar to 2 mW nm(-1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest power and spectral density SC emission ever achieved in chalcogenide fibers.