title: Calculation of the expected output spectrum for a mid-infrared supercontinuum source based on As ₂ S₃ chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers.
abstract: We computationally investigate supercontinuum generation in an As ₂ S₃ solid core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a hexagonal cladding of air holes. With a goal of obtaining a supercontinuum output spectrum that can predict what might be seen in an experiment, we investigate the spectral and statistical behavior of a mid-infrared supercontinuum source using a large ensemble average of 10⁶ realizations, in which the input pulse duration and energy vary. The output spectrum is sensitive to small changes (0.1%) in these pulse parameters. We show that the spectrum can be divided into three regions with distinct characteristics: a short-wavelength region with high correlation, a middle-wavelength region with minimal correlation, and a long-wavelength region where the behavior is dominated by a few rare large-bandwidth events. We show that statistically significant fluctuations exist in the experimentally expected output spectrum and that we can reproduce an excellent match to that spectrum with a converged shape and bandwidth using 5000 realizations.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Weiblen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Docherty
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Menyuk
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sanghera
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Aggarwal