title: Supercontinuum and gas cell in a single microstructured fiber.
abstract: We exploit both the high nonlinearity and the holey structure of microstructured fibers to combine a broad-band light source and a gas cell in a single microstructured fiber. A broadband supercontinuum is formed by launching nanosecond pulses from a compact, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser into a microstructured fiber filled with acetylene. This continuum is self-referenced to the acetylene lines in the 1500 nm region. The performance of different index-guiding narrow-core microstructured fibers as nonlinear and host media is evaluated. The concept offers many possibilities and can be applied to various gases absorbing at different wavelengths.
authors.affiliation: Fiber-Optics Group, Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 3500, FI-02015 TKK, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ritari
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Genty
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ludvigsen