title: Octave-spanning supercontinuum generated in SF6-glass PCF by a 1060 nm mode-locked fibre laser delivering 20 pJ per pulse.
abstract: We report the generation of an octave-spanning supercontinuum in SF6-glass photonic crystal fiber using a diode-pumped passively mode-locked fs Yb-fiber laser oscillating at 1060 nm. The pulses (energy up to 500 pJ and duration 60 fs) were launched into a 4 cm length of PCF (core diameter 1.7 microm and zero-dispersion wavelength approximately 1060 nm). Less than 20 pJ of launched pulse energy was sufficient to generate a supercontinuum from 600 nm to 1450 nm, which represents the lowest energy so far reported for generation of an octave-spanning supercontinuum from a 1 microm pump. Since the laser pulse energy scales inversely with the repetition rate, highly compact and efficient sources based on SF6-glass PCF are likely to be especially useful for efficient spectral broadening at high repetition rates (several GHz), such as those needed for the precise calibration of astronomical spectrographs, where a frequency comb spacing >10 GHz is required for the best performance.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Research-Group (IOIP), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. hhunder@mpl.mpg.de
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hundertmark
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rammler
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wilken
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holzwarth
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Hänsch
authors.forename: P St J
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Russell