Liquid-core fibers offer local external control over pulse dispersion due to their strong thermodynamic response, offering a new degree of freedom in accurate soliton steering for reconfigurable nonlinear light generation. Here, we show how to accurately control soliton dynamics and supercontinuum generation in carbon disulfide/silica fibers by temperature and pressure tuning, monitored via the spectral location and the onset energy of non-solitonic radiation. Simulations and phase-matching calculations based on an extended thermodynamic dispersion model of carbon disulfide confirm the experimental results, which allows us to demonstrate the potential of temperature detuning of liquid-core fibers for octave spanning recompressible supercontinuum generation in the near-infrared.
Supercontinuum generation enabled a series of key technologies such as frequency comb sources, ultrashort pulse sources in the ultraviolet or the mid-infrared, as well as broadband light sources for spectroscopic methods in biophotonics. Recent advances utilizing higher-order modes have shown the potential to boost both bandwidth and modal output distribution of supercontinuum sources. However, the strive towards a breakthrough technology is hampered by the limited control over the intra- and intermodal nonlinear processes in the highly multi-modal silica fibers commonly used. Here, we investigate the ultrafast nonlinear dynamics of soliton-based supercontinuum generation and the associated mode coupling within the first three lowest-order modes of accurately dispersion-engineered liquid-core fibers. By measuring the energy-spectral evolutions and the spatial distributions of the various generated spectral features polarization-resolved, soliton fission and dispersive wave formation are identified as the origins of the nonlinear broadening. Measured results are confirmed by nonlinear simulations taking advantage of the accurate modeling capabilities of the ideal step-index geometry of our liquid-core platform. While operating in the telecommunications domain, our study allows further advances in nonlinear switching in emerging higher-order mode fiber networks as well as novel insights into the sophisticated nonlinear dynamics and broadband light generation in pre-selected polarization states.
Knowledge of the light attenuation by a material is essential for any photonic device, while liquids are insufficiently quantified, especially in the mid-infrared range. Here, we present a quantitative spectroscopic study reporting concrete attenuation values of the regions of low attenuation of selected organic and inorganic solvents up to 20 µm that is useful for light transport and nonlinear frequency conversion. In addition to prominent liquids, the study presents CBrCl3 as a promising candidate for optofluidics. Our study uncovers the potential of these solvents for waveguiding applications at long wavelengths and highlights the importance of careful liquid selection.
Soliton-based supercontinuum generation (SCG) is a powerful approach for generating light with desired properties, although limited dispersion tuning capabilities remain a key challenge. Here, we introduce liquid-core fibers (LCFs) with longitudinally controlled dispersion of a higher-order mode, achieved by axial modulation of the liquid core diameter. This approach provides a versatile photonic platform with unique dispersion control capabilities that are particularly relevant to ultrafast nonlinear frequency conversion. Our tuning concept uses LCFs with anomalous dispersion at telecommunication wavelengths (TE01-mode) and relies on the strong dependence of dispersion on the core diameter. Non-monotonic and complex dispersion profiles feature multiple dispersive waves formation when launching ultrashort pulses. For example, this effect has been used to fill spectral gaps in fibers with linearly decreasing core diameter in order to spectrally smooth the output spectra. Our results highlight the potential of LCFs for controlling dispersion, particularly along the fiber axis, thus yielding novel dispersion landscapes that can reveal unexplored nonlinear dynamics and generate tailored broadband spectra.
Accurate dispersion management is key for efficient nonlinear light generation. Here, we demonstrate that composite-liquid-core fibers—fibers with binary liquid mixtures as the core medium—allow for accurate and tunable control of dispersion, loss, and nonlinearity. Specifically, we show numerically that mixtures of organic and inorganic solvents in silica capillaries yield anomalous dispersion and reasonable nonlinearity at telecommunication wavelengths. This favorable operation domain is experimentally verified in various liquid systems through dispersion-sensitive supercontinuum generation, with all results being consistent with theoretical designs and simulations. Our results confirm that mixtures introduce a cost-effective means for liquid-core fiber design that allows for loss control, nonlinear response variation, and dispersion engineering.
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