Numerical simulation of ultra-wideband supercontinuum generation covering 2-20 μm waveband in cascaded all-soft-glass fiber

We designed a cascaded all-soft-glass fiber structure and simulate midinfrared 2–20 µm ultrawideband supercontinuum (SC) generation numerically. The cascaded fiber structure consists of a 1.5 m InF 3 fiber, a 0.2 m chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber, and a 0.2 m tellurium-based chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber. Using a 2 µm pulse pumping this cascaded structure, the generated SC covering the wavelengths longer than 20 µm has been demonstrated theoretically. The 30 dB bandwidth reaches 20.87 µm from 1.44 to 22.31 µm. The effect of different pulse widths on SC generation is considered. With the increase of peak power and the decrease of pulse width, the energy of SC in the 15–20 µm waveband increases gradually. The mechanism of SC broadening process has also been analyzed. The SC generation of more than 20 µm in this cascade structure is caused by the self-phase modulation, soliton effects, four-wave mixing, and redshifted dispersive wave. This method demonstrates the possibility of generating ultrawide bandwidth SCs up to a 20 µm waveband by a commercial 2 µm pump source and all-fiber structure.