Numerical investigation of a wideband supercontinuum source based on a large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber pumped at 1.3 μm

Abstract A numerical investigation was conducted to obtain a supercontinuum spanning about two octaves using a large mode area photonic crystal fiber (PCF) pumped at 1.3 μ m. In our study, a 1.3 μ m femtosecond laser and a silica-based large mode area PCF were selected as the pump source and nonlinear medium, respectively. The nonlinear Schrodinger equation was solved with split-step Fourier method to simulate the evolution of pulse and the broadening of spectrum. The effect of several parameters including the length of PCF, the pulse width, and the average pump power on characteristics of the output spectrum was studied. The simulation results revealed that the supercontinuum extended from near 600 nm to over 2450 nm at 20 dB with length of 30 cm, pulse width of 100 fs and average power of 12 W, respectively. This work proved this large mode area PCF a potentially excellent medium for supercontinuum source and provided some theoretical guidance for future experiments.