Near-zero dispersion, highly nonlinear lead-silicate W-type fiber for applications at 155μm

Abstract

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of a lead-silicate glass highly nonlinear W-type fiber with a flattened and near-zero dispersion profile in the 1.55 microm region. The fiber was composed of three types of commercial lead silicate glasses. Effectively single-mode guidance was observed in the fiber at 1550 nm. The nonlinear coefficient and the propagation loss at this wavelength were measured to be 820 W(-1)km(-1) and 2.1 dB/m, respectively. Investigations of the Brillouin threshold revealed no evidence of stimulated Brillouin scattering for continuous wave signal powers up to 29 dBm in a 2m sample of the fiber. A broadband dispersion measurement confirmed the near-zero dispersion values and the flat dispersion profile around 1550 nm, in good agreement with our simulations. Efficient four-wave-mixing, tunable across the whole C-band, was demonstrated in a 2.2m length of the fiber.

Fast and broadband fiber dispersion measurement with dense wavelength sampling

“…Besides having convenient dispersion profiles, these fibers have interesting applications, some of which have been demonstrated already in several of our ongoing research programs. The first example is an all-solid soft-glass microstructured fiber based on a combination of three different lead-silicate glasses arranged to produce a W-type index profile (as discussed in more detail in [2]). Such 'W-fiber' was designed to have high nonlinearity and a flat and near-zero dispersion profile at 1550 nm, as required in several nonlinear signal processing applications [13,14].…”

“…For instance, the precise knowledge of the wavelength dependent dispersion profiles, including the position of any zero-dispersion points, is essential for optimizing the shape and spectral extent of supercontinuum generation [1], or to ensure phase matching conditions in parametric processes [2], or to control effects such as pulse compression and soliton self-frequency shift [3]. It is often also desirable to obtain dense GVD datasets composed of closely spaced data points as the latter enable to reliably determine the higher dispersion orders, which are critical e.g.…”

Fast and broadband fiber dispersion measurement with dense wavelength sampling

“…The first is an all-solid MOF based on three different lead-silicate glasses arranged to produce a W-type index profile 2 . This 'W-fiber' (Fig.…”

“…For instance, it is essential for optimizing the shape and spectral extent of supercontinuum generation 1 , or to ensure phase matching conditions in parametric processes 2 , or to control effects such as pulse compression and soliton self-frequency shift 3 . It is also desirable to obtain dense GVD datasets (i.e.…”

Dispersion management in soft glass all-solid photonic crystal fibres

“…Several successful exam− ples of the theoretical and practical development of all−solid photonic bandgap fibres with a low index core have also been reported in soft and pure silica glasses [11][12][13][14]. For index guided fibres different cross−section profiles are pro− posed, e. g., hexagonal lattice of microrods [1,12,13,15,16] W−type rings [17][18][19][20] and chirped Bragg−like geometry [21].…”