We present the first detailed demonstrations of octave-spanning SC generation in all-normal dispersion photonic crystal fibers (ANDi PCF) in the visible and near-infrared spectral regions. The resulting spectral profiles are extremely flat without significant fine structure and with excellent stability and coherence properties. The key benefit of SC generation in ANDi PCF is the conservation of a single ultrashort pulse in the time domain with smooth and recompressible phase distribution. For the first time we confirm the exceptional temporal properties of the generated SC pulses experimentally and demonstrate their applicability in ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations, which are used to illustrate the SC generation dynamics by self-phase modulation and optical wave breaking. To our knowledge, we present the broadest spectra generated in the normal dispersion regime of an optical fiber.
We report the first experimental observation of three-dimensional light bullets, excited by femtosecond pulses in a system featuring quasi-instantaneous cubic nonlinearity and a periodic, transversally modulated refractive index. Stringent evidence of the excitation of light bullets is based on time-gated images and spectra which perfectly match our numerical simulations. Furthermore, we reveal a novel evolution mechanism forcing the light bullets to follow varying dispersion or diffraction conditions, until they leave their existence range and decay.
We experimentally investigate light propagation in a disordered two-dimensional array of mutually coupled optical fibers. In the linear case light either spreads in a diffusive manner or localizes at a few sites. For high excitation power diffusive spreading is arrested by the focusing nonlinearity, i.e., forming a discrete soliton. By contrast, fields, which are localized in the linear regime, can experience both spreading and contraction caused by the nonlinearity.
The combination of fiber Bragg grating inscription with femtosecond laser sources and the usage of the Talbot interferometer setup not only gives access to the fabrication of Bragg gratings in new types of materials but also allows, at the same time, to keep the high flexibility of an interferometric setup in choosing the Bragg grating wavelength. Since the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the femtosecond laser source differ strongly from those of conventional laser sources, specific limits and tolerances in the interferometric setup have to be considered. Such limits are investigated on the basis of an analytical ray tracing model. The results are applied to tolerance measurements of fiber Bragg grating reflections recorded with a DUV sub-picosecond laser source at 262 nm. Additionally we demonstrate the wavelength versatility of the two-beam interferometer setup for femtosecond inscription over a 40 nm wavelength band. Inscription experiments in Al/Yb doped silica glasses are demonstrated as a prove for the access to non-photosensitive fibers.
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