title: Multi-octave supercontinuum generation from mid-infrared filamentation in a bulk crystal.
abstract: In supercontinuum generation, various propagation effects combine to produce a dramatic spectral broadening of intense ultrashort optical pulses. With a host of applications, supercontinuum sources are often required to possess a range of properties such as spectral coverage from the ultraviolet across the visible and into the infrared, shot-to-shot repeatability, high spectral energy density and an absence of complicated pulse splitting. Here we present an all-in-one solution, the first supercontinuum in a bulk homogeneous material extending from 450 nm into the mid-infrared. The spectrum spans 3.3 octaves and carries high spectral energy density (2 pJ nm(-1)-10 nJ nm(-1)), and the generation process has high shot-to-shot reproducibility and preserves the carrier-to-envelope phase. Our method, based on filamentation of femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in the anomalous dispersion regime, allows for compact new supercontinuum sources.
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciences Fotoniques, Castelldefels, Barcelona 08860, Spain. francisco.silva@icfo.es
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baudisch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hemmer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Faccio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Couairon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Biegert