Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 73–78

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Optics and Laser Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlastec

Full length article

Supercontinuum source based on all-silica fibers with optimized spectral T

power from 1100 up to 2300 nm
⁎
J.E. Saldaña-Díaza,b, S. Jaraboa, F.J. Salgado-Remachaa,
a
Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Pedro Cerbuna 12, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
b
Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica, Departamento Académico de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias e Ingeniería, Huancavelica, Peru

H I GH L IG H T S

• AThesupercontinuum source between 1100 and 2300 nm is presented, with optimized flat and wide spectrum.
• The source is based only on silica fibers and commercial devices, resulting in a feasible and easily implemented source.
• effect of the pump wavelength and the zero-dispersion wavelength is experimentally studied.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The authors present here an attainable fiber supercontinuum source with competitive characteristics in the near
Fibre lasers infrared range. The proposed system is based on a highly nonlinear silica fiber, with nominal zero-dispersion
Mode-locking wavelength at 1550 nm. A mode-locked fiber laser was used as the seed. The pump wavelength was shifted to
Nonlinear waveguides match the zero-dispersion wavelength of the nonlinear fiber, achieving a better performance of the spectral
Supercontinuum generation
emission. The supercontinuum emission was characterized between 1100 nm and 2300 nm, showing a flat and
wide spectrum with a conversion efficiency over 80%. The set-up consists only in silica fiber and can be con-
sidered, therefore, as a cost-effective alternative for supercontinuum generation in the near infrared range,
which can be easily implemented in any photonics laboratory, where commercial amplifiers are usual devices.

1. Introduction the output spectrum profile.

The spectral width of SC is a key parameter for applying this kind of
Since its first realization in the early 70s, Supercontinuum (SC) sources. At the same time, controlling dispersion in the nonlinear
generation continues to be an active topic of research. SC generation medium is somewhat difficult, at present, in the design of SC sources
requires insertion of optical pulses into a non-linear medium. Different [38]. Although the development of these sources has advanced con-
optical sources, such as Er and Er/Yb doped fiber pulsed lasers [1,2], siderably, there still remains the need to improve their output spectral
are used commonly to pump different types of fibers employed as power and to simplify the dispersion control. Spectral width can be
nonlinear media [3–19]. Some applications of SC generation can be improved in two ways: (i) by raising the pump power of pre-amplifi-
found in different fields such as optical coherence tomography, spectral cation stage or (ii) by shifting the pump wavelength to zero-dispersion
characterization of materials, quantitative analysis of food samples and wavelength (ZDW) of the HNLF. Since raising the pump power is not
environment [16–35]. SC with telecommunication devices has received always possible, the authors chose suitable pump wavelength for this
recently considerable boost in attention, as borne out by the references study.
cited. Previously, the authors have developed a new supercontinuum In their previous work [36], the authors used an L-band Erbium
generation source, based on commercial fiber amplifiers [36] and Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) for pre-amplification before the HNLF
Highly Nonlinear Fibers (HNLF), which gave a spectral width of suffi- sample. The resulting spectral power of the SC emission, with the
ciently flat profile from 1100 nm up to 2300 nm. This source combines former configuration, showed a spectral hole at 1523 nm. In the present
appropriate optical behaviour with cost-effectiveness and feasibility work, we explain and demonstrate how this spectral hole can be
[37]. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement, particularly in overcome by adjusting the pump wavelength making it closer to the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fjsalgado@unizar.es (F.J. Salgado-Remacha).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2019.04.011
Received 1 February 2019; Received in revised form 27 March 2019; Accepted 6 April 2019
Available online 13 April 2019
0030-3992/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J.E. Saldaña-Díaz, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 73–78

spectral hole. Specifically, we have used a C-band EDFA as pre-ampli- 2. Experimental set-up
fier before the nonlinear medium, shifting the pumping to the ZDW.
This change, in effect, implies that it is a completely new im- The experimental set-up for the proposed SC generation scheme is
plementation of the source, since it is necessary to calibrate the length shown in Fig. 1. The seed is an all-fiber mode-locked pulsed laser, based
of any fiber component that optimizes the output spectrum. on the nonlinear polarization rotation effect. The label EDFA-C20 re-
Thus, the present study continues a previous work, but with a new presents an EDFA operating in the C-band with +20 dBm saturation
pump configuration for the SC generation source, based on a mode- output power (Highwave, model C20-G20-H-FC/APC-BTO 3.0). The
locking fiber laser used as pumping seed, and HNLF as the dispersive output of the laser is amplified by a second EDFA out of the cavity,
medium. The set-up is based on commercial fiber amplifiers, con- acting as pre-amplifier (EDFA-C26), which also operates in the C-band
tributing to attainability and feasibility of the system. The pump wa- with +26 dBm saturation output power (Manlight, model HWT-EDFA-
velength is adjusted to improve the spectral width of the SC generation, GM-SC-BO-C26).
using an EDFA in C-band, with 26 dBm of saturation output power. The The nonlinear medium is a HNLF (Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable
spectrum of this SC generation source covers from 1100 up to 2330 nm, Company Ltd., NL-1550-Zero type). The nominal dispersion parameter
overcoming an octave-spanning of spectral width. Compared with the Dλ of this fiber at 1550 nm is null, with a dispersion slope lower than
previous configuration, the spectral width has been enlarged con- 0.025 ps nm−2 km−1 (with β2 = 2.48·10−5 ps2 km−1 and
siderably and, at the same time, a spectral hole appearing in the former β3 = −2·10−6 ps3 km−1). The nonlinear coefficient is over
output spectrum has been now converted into a ridge. Thus, in this 10 W−1 km−1 and the Raman gain coefficient is higher than
work we show a clear broadening of the SC emission with this kind of 4.8 W−1 km−1. To improve the spectral power of the SC pulses, two
devices just by pumping at ZDW of HNLF, based on the same principle fibers were used, one with positive dispersion and the other with ne-
that can be found in experimental works reported with photonic crystal gative dispersion; the former is represented by SMF (+) (Corning,
fibers (PCF) [38–44], but with a more attainable source. The effect of model SMF28e) and the latter by SMF (−) (Thorlabs, model DCF38)
the pump wavelength and the ZDW has been widely studied in PCF (see Fig. 1). The optimal fiber lengths for dispersion control were found
(where the study of the ZDW results much easier) by means of nu- by maximizing the second harmonic generation, using a BBO crystal,
merical simulations, but this is, up to our knowledge, the first experi- which gives 111 m for the positive dispersion fiber (inside de cavity)
mental demonstration of the effect in HNLF. This can be considered a and 22 m for the negative dispersion fiber (before the pre-amplification
significant improvement in the field of SC generation with silica fiber stage). Although these lengths are the same that the ones found in Ref.
lasers, and eliminates some of the problems present in the former [37], it was necessary to determine them experimentally again. More-
scheme. over, the temporal width of the pulses after the pre-amplifier was
measured by means of the interferometric autocorrelation (IAC)
method obtaining a value around 0.18 ps, which does not depend on the
operation band of the amplifier. Therefore, although the pre-amplifier

Fig. 1. Experimental set-up for supercontinuum

generation and measurement. PC: polarization
controller; LP: linear polarizer; C: coupler; EDFA-
C20/C26: erbium-doped fiber amplifier operating
in the C-band (C20: 20 dBm; C26: 26 dBm); SMF
(+): single-mode fiber with positive dispersion;
SMF (−): single-mode fiber with negative disper-
sion; HNLF: highly nonlinear silica fiber; OSA:
optical spectrum analyser for spectral measure-
ments up to 1700 nm. The spectral measurement
range was extended up to 2550 nm by means of a
monochromator and a PbS detector; LP: long-pass
optical filter; G: diffraction grating. An
Interferometric Autocorrelation (IAC) trace of the
laser pulse, before the HNLF, is shown, with a
temporal Gaussian width of 180 fs.

74
J.E. Saldaña-Díaz, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 73–78

was changed, it was not necessary to modify these fiber lengths to 0

Spectral power ( dBm / nm )

maximize nonlinear effects. The IAC trace is also shown in Fig. 1. The
-5
lateral lobes denote the presence of a substructure in the main pulse,
and the flatness of the ground level points to a non-chirped pulse. The -10
peak power reaches around 800 kW (due to the short temporal width of
-15
the pulses). Its spectrum is centred at 1561 nm and its frequency of
repetition is 1.4 MHz. This frequency depends exclusively on the cavity -20 1101 nm

length, since the laser cavity is based on a passive mode-locking tech- 1200 nm
nique. -25
2190 nm
For spectral measurement, two different arrangements were used. -30 2290 nm
The optical spectrum up to 1700 nm is measured with a spectral re-
solution of 1 nm by means of an optical spectrum analyser (OSA, -35
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Agilent, model 86142B). The spectrum above 1700 nm is obtained with
a spectral resolution of 4 nm by using a monochromator (SPEX, model HNLF length ( m )
340E) with a diffraction grating with 300 grooves per millimetre and a
Fig. 3. Spectral power at four significant wavelengths (1101 nm, 1200 nm,
Blaze wavelength of 2000 nm (Horiba Scientific) and is detected by
2190 nm, and 2290 nm) as a function of HNLF’s length. Solid lines are meant for
means of a PbS photoconductor (spectral sensitivity from 1000 nm up visual aid only. All values were obtained by employing the highest available
to 2750 nm, Thorlabs, model FDPS3X3). In order to remove the influ- pump power.
ence of the second diffraction order, a long-pass spectral filter (cut-on
wavelength of 1500 nm, Thorlabs, model FEL1500) is placed in front of
phase-matching condition cannot be observed due to the silica ab-
the photoconductor. A chopper together with a lock-in amplifier allows
sorption band around 2300 nm, since the spectrum should extend up to
a synchronous detection. As the spectral efficiency of the diffraction
2680 nm (λp = 1560 nm, λs = 1100 nm) in order to observe it.
grating depends on the polarization, a linear polarizer is added to the
For a better understanding of the spectral features, Fig. 3 shows the
setup. Thus, the optical spectrum is measured for two orthogonal po-
spectral power at four different wavelengths, corresponding to 1101 nm
larizations (vertical and horizontal). Both measurements are corrected
(at the left border of the spectrum), 1200 nm (on the left side of the
using the calibration for each polarization. The final trace is the sum of
spectrum), 2190 nm (on the right side) and 2290 nm (at the right
both measurements and lastly is adjusted in order to match the spectral
border of the spectrum). It can be seen that the optimal length, at-
power obtained with the OSA.
tending to the maximum power of the whole spectrum, is 25 m. In
addition, Fig. 4 shows the maximum and minimum wavelengths for
3. Supercontinuum generation and optimization of the HNLF each length of the tested HNLF, taking −11 dBm/nm as the reference
length power. For the sake of clarity, the inset in Fig. 4 shows the curve of
spectral width at −11 dBm/nm in greater detail. From this figure, it is
The train of pulses generated by the laser described in the previous obvious that a sample of HNLF of 25 m length produces the widest
section was used as the seed for the generation of SC in the HNLF. To spectrum, overcoming the octave. Therefore, further discussion on new
maximize the spectral power of supercontinuum emission, it is neces- SC generation scheme would, henceforth, be restricted to this config-
sary to find the optimal length of HNLF. This process is rather laborious, uration.
since it involves spectral measurements for both polarizations with The spectral width of supercontinuum (with a HNLF length of 25 m)
different lengths of HNLF. Fig. 2 shows four supercontinuum spectra, has its lower limit around 1106 nm, and upper limit at 2330 nm. The
pointing out that HNLF of 25 m length gives the maximum spectral spectral power is slightly displaced to the right side of the spectrum
width. From this figure it can be seen that we can delimit three clearly (corresponding to longer wavelengths), reaching up to −0.95 dBm with
different zones: (i) a flat spectral zone from 1134 nm to 1523 nm, (ii) a an approximately flat spectrum. Fig. 5 shows the effect of increasing the
raised zone between 1523 nm and 1575 nm (which has a higher spec- pump power of the pre-amplifier (EDFA-C26). From this figure, it can
tral power) and (iii) a plateau zone from 1575 nm to 2304 nm. The be seen that the spectral shape remains the same, regardless of the
second zone is due to unconverted pump power. As the first and third pump power. The spectral peak surrounding 1550 nm appears even at
zones are rather well equalized, it can be assumed that the pump wa- lower pump powers. It can be concluded, therefore, that this
velength is close to the ZDW. Unfortunately, the four-wave mixing

2500
Spectral power ( dBm / nm )

0 2300
Wavelength ( nm )

2100 1250
Wavelength ( nm )

1900 Minimum wavelength

1200
-10
Maximum wavelength
1700 1150
Spectral width
HNLF 10 m
1500 1100
HNLF 25 m
-20 010203040506070
1300 HNLF length ( m )
HNLF 40 m

HNLF 63 m
1100

-30 900
1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Wavelength ( nm ) HNLF length ( m )

Fig. 2. Determination of the optimal HNLF length. The maximum spectral Fig. 4. Maximum and minimum wavelengths and spectral width at −11 dBm/
width and maximum total spectral power are found with HNLF of 25 m length. nm versus HNLF’s length. For clarity, the inset shows the spectral width at −11
All spectral curves were obtained by employing the highest available pump dBm/nm as a function of the HNLF length. Dotted curves are meant to be a
power. visual aid only.

75
J.E. Saldaña-Díaz, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 73–78

6
1500 mA

Spectral power ( dBm / nm )

10

Attenuation coef. ( dB / m )
0
Spectral power ( dBm / nm )

2000 mA

2500 mA 0
4
-10 -10
0.2

Power variation ( dB )
0.1 -20 L20, HNLF 63 m

0 L20
-30 2
-20 C26, HNLF 25 m
-0.1
C26
-0.2
-40
attenuation
0 50 100 150 200
Time ( minute )
-30 -50 0
1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300 1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300

Wavelength ( nm ) Wavelength ( nm )

Fig. 5. Supercontinuum spectrum generated by 25 m of HNLF pumped with Fig. 6. Supercontinuum spectra generated by 25 m (solid red line, EDFA-C26)
C26 for different pump currents. The inset shows an example of temporal and 63 m (solid black line, EDFA-L20) of HNLF. Dotted lines show the spectra of
variations of the supercontinuum power at 1300 nm during 200 min. the pulsed laser before the HNLF, pre-amplified with C26 (dotted black line)
and L20 (dotted grey line); solid grey line: attenuation of the HNLF. (For in-
terpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is re-
configuration is a stable source, besides being easy to implement with ferred to the web version of this article.)
standard photonics facilities. In fact, by measuring its spectral power
during 200 min, a stability around ± 2% ( ± 0.09 dB) along the whole
2330 nm over −11 dBm/nm (representing an octave spanning width).
spectrum in terms of standard deviation has been found. If the mea-
surement time is limited to 15 min, its stability improves up to ± 1% At the same time, an increment in the total output power is clear.
Moreover, the temporal width of the pulses does not depend on the
( ± 0.04 dB). Therefore, the source is stable enough [45] for a large
number of applications, particularly taking into account that OSA operation band of the amplifier. Therefore, although the pre-amplifier
is changed, it is not necessary to modify the fiber lengths of the pulsed
measurements are affected on variations around ± 0.02 dB (during
15 min). As an example, the inset in Fig. 5 shows temporal variations of laser. This effect has been widely studied by numerical simulations, and
some experimental works [43,44] studied it with PCF (where the ZDW
the supercontinuum power at 1300 nm during 200 min, showing a
standard deviation of ± 0.06 dB. can be easily defined), but this is, up to our knowledge, the first ex-
perimental demonstration of the effect based on HNLF.
Table 1 collects the spectral widths obtained with the optimal
configuration of the system, assuming different minimum powers. From A comparison between the total spectral power of the C26 pulse and
the SC spectrum gives a conversion efficiency around 83% without
Table 1 can be seen that, taking the spectral width at −6 dBm/nm, it is
possible to reach 1170 nm of spectral width (overcoming the octave). taking into account the residuary pumping (86% if we take into account
the peak at 1545 nm), whereas for the L20 system the efficiency is
Moreover, for −11 dBm/nm (enough for many applications) the
around 26%. The highest conversion efficiencies has been reported with
spectral width increases up to 1224 nm. This spectral width is really
HNLF in the third window, up to 90% and 80% by Gao et al. [9] and
significant, compared with that of other supercontinuum sources as can
Ouyang et al. [2] respectively. Thus, we reach similar conversion effi-
be seen in the references list. Although wider spectra have been re-
ciencies. On the other hand, the conversion efficiencies with PCF are
ported, this achievement can be only implemented by using other kind
below 70% [3,4,46], and with other kinds of fibers are below 30%
of nonlinear media, reducing therefore the feasibility of the set-up.
[17,18,20].
Finally, it is worthwhile to compare the results obtained from the
Fig. 6 also shows the attenuation curve for HNLF. As can be seen
previous configuration [36] (with a pre-amplifier operating in L-band)
from this figure, the upper wavelength limit could be reached. Thus, it
with those obtained by using the new solution (by pumping the HNLF
seems that further significant improvements on the system are hard to
with pulses pre-amplified at C-band). Fig. 6 illustrates the comparison
implement with silica-based fibers. Note that, therefore, this result
between the spectral powers obtained with both systems. From this
cannot be understood as a simple incremental improvement, rather a
figure, it can be seen that pre-amplification at L-band (1600 nm) shows
thorough optimization of the system.
a spectral hole around 1520 nm. This trough in the spectral curve ap-
The supercontinuum spectral profiles for both amplifiers (EDFA-L20
pears even when the pump power is maximum, and it was impossible to
and EDFA-C26) were optimized by fitting the HNLF length and the
eliminate it with the previous configuration. On the contrary, just by
pump power, since the pulsed laser was not modified. However, a great
shifting the pump wavelength to C-band (1560 nm, closer to the ob-
improvement of the supercontinuum profile is found just by amplifying
served spectral hole), the trough could be transformed into a ridge,
with the EDFA-C26 instead of the EDFA-L20. Therefore, it is clear that
which is within the spectral region of the pumping source, and there-
this change is due to the closeness between the pump wavelength and
fore can be attached to residual pump power. This effect is due to a
the ZDW of the HNLF. In fact, the nominal ZDW is 1550 nm and the
better matching between the pump wavelength and the ZDW. In ad-
pump wavelength changes from 1600 nm (EDFA-L20) to 1561 nm
dition, the spectral width is increased, covering from 1106 nm up to
(EDFA-C26). In order to demonstrate that the improvement shown in
this work is due to the control of the dispersion, supercontinuum
Table 1
Spectral widths of the supercontinuum emission generated with 25 m-long emission has been also generated by means of a different HNLF
HNLF and spectral widths (in nm) by employing the strongest available pump (Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Company Ltd., NL-1550-Neg type)
power. with negative dispersion parameter Dλ = −5 ps nm−1 km−1 at
1550 nm. The new profiles are shown in Fig. 7. As the pump wave-
Minimum power (dBm/nm) λmin (nm) λmax (nm) Δλ (nm)
lengths are out of the ZDW, the supercontinuum is not generated in
−3 1719 2189 470 wavelengths shorter than the pump wavelength and the long wing of
−6 1134 2304 1170 the spectrum is narrowed. Finally, a second experiment was carried out
−11 1106 2330 1224 by employing again the HNLF-Zero. The pump wavelength can be
−13 1101 2336 1235
slightly modified by placing a variable attenuator inside the cavity of
Bold letters emphasizes the spectral width at −6 and −11 dBm/nm. the pulsed laser. In Fig. 7 the profile generated with a pump wavelength

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J.E. Saldaña-Díaz, et al. Optics and Laser Technology 117 (2019) 73–78

The supercontinuum spectrum was characterized by means of an

Spectral power ( dBm / nm )

0
OSA and a monochromator, combined with a PbS detector. The re-
sulting spectral curve shows a flat profile between 1100 nm and
-10
2300 nm over −11 dBm/nm with a conversion efficiency above 80%.
Compared with more complex solutions (based, for example, on pho-
-20
tonic crystal fibers or Thulium-based fiber amplifiers), the proposed set-
1561 nm, HNLF Zero up is simple and feasible with a very competitive performance.
-30 1549 nm, HNLF Zero Therefore, it can be easily implemented using commercial erbium-
1600 nm, HNLF Zero
doped amplifiers. Any attempt to markedly improve this set-up would
-40 1561 nm, HNLF Neg
be fraught with complications, because of the spectral attenuation of
1600 nm, HNLF Neg
HNLF. Thus, for a wider enlargement, a different medium like ZBLAN
-50
fibers or Germanium-doped fibers would be required, resulting in a not
1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100 2300
easily attainable source. The solution presented in this work points out
Wavelength ( nm )
the importance of properly shifting the pump to the nominal ZDW of
Fig. 7. Comparison of different supercontinuum spectra obtained with HNLF- the nonlinear medium and it can be very helpful for the research of
Zero (solid lines) and with HNLF-Neg (dotted lines), pumped at different wa- supercontinuum sources in the near-infrared region. Although numer-
velengths. ical simulations of this effect have been widely reported and there are a
few experimental works [43,44] that demonstrate it by sweeping the
of 1549 nm is shown and it is clear that this change narrows the su- pump wavelength in PCF with ZDW around 1550 nm, this one is, up to
percontinuum profile. Unfortunately, the dispersion of the HNLF our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration pumping a HNLF
changes across the spectrum of the pump pulses (which is very wide) in 1550 nm of the upgrade of the SC spectrum by means of matching the
and it is not possible to determine the effective ZDW of the HNLF. pump wavelength and the ZDW of the HNLF.
Compared with the results obtained by using photonic crystal fibers
(PCF) [3–6], highly nonlinear fibers [7–14] or Thulium-based fiber Acknowledgements
amplifiers [18–20], the development of this new source remains simple
and feasible, attaining a competitive spectral width varying between This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y
1100 and 2300 nm. In addition, it develops a considerable amount of Competitividad (Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación
power, compared with other supercontinuum sources. Recently, by Científica y Técnica de Excelencia, project FIS2013-44174-P) and by
means of Germanium-doped silica fibers as nonlinear medium, some the Diputación General de Aragón.
wider spectra have been reported. These spectra spread from 600 nm to J E Saldaña-Díaz acknowledges the financial support of Universidad
3200 nm [21,47] and from 350 nm to 2400 nm [46]. Moreover, its de Zaragoza, Spain and Banco Santander, Spain (Doctoral Fellowship
average power is higher, reaching even 80 W [46]. However, their UZ-SANTANDER).
pulses are as long as 1 ns [21,47] and as 120 ps [46], respectively.
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