Stabilized soliton self-frequency shift and 0.1- PHz sideband generation in a photonic-crystal fiber with an air-hole-modified core.
Fiber dispersion and nonlinearity management strategy based on a modification of a photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) core with an air hole is shown to facilitate optimization of PCF components for a stable soliton frequency shift and subpetahertz sideband generation through four-wave mixing. Spectral recoil of an optical soliton by a red-shifted dispersive wave, generated through a soliton instability induced by high-order fiber dispersion, is shown to stabilize the soliton self-frequency shift in a highly nonlinear PCF with an air-hole-modified core relative to pump power variations. A fiber with a 2.3-microm-diameter core modified with a 0.9-microm-diameter air hole is used to demonstrate a robust soliton self-frequency shift of unamplified 50-fs Ti: sapphire laser pulses to a central wavelength of about 960 nm, which remains insensitive to variations in the pump pulse energy within the range from 60 to at least 100 pJ. In this regime of frequency shifting, intense high- and low-frequency branches of dispersive wave radiation are simultaneously observed in the spectrum of PCF output. An air-hole-modified-core PCF with appropriate dispersion and nonlinearity parameters is shown to provide efficient four-wave mixing, giving rise to Stokes and anti-Stokes sidebands whose frequency shift relative to the pump wavelength falls within the subpetahertz range, thus offering an attractive source for nonlinear Raman microspectroscopy.
Liu
Bo-Wen
BW
Ultrafast Laser Lab, School of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Technical Science, Tianjin University, 300072 Tianjin, PR China.
Hu
Ming-Lie
ML
Fang
Xiao-Hui
XH
Li
Yan-Feng
YF
Chai
Lu
L
Wang
Ching-Yue
CY
Tong
Weijun
W
Luo
Jie
J
Voronin
Aleksandr A
AA
Zheltikov
Aleksei M
AM
D000388:Air; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017785:Photons; D016062:Porosity