Modal analysis and experimental study of multimode graded-index microstructured fibres for highly efficient supercontinuum generation
Résumé
Microstructured optical fibres (MOFs), also known as Photonic Crystal
Fibres (PCFs) or Holey Fibres (HFs), play an important role in
supercontinuum generation because of their high nonlinearity and ability
to tailor the dispersion profile. Nowadays, studies have extended to
the multimode environment to enhance spectral broadening by taking
advantage of various intermodal nonlinear effects. Recently, it has been
shown that these types of fibres can also be able to provide spatially
cleaned output beams through a novel nonlinear spatial effect called
Kerr-induced beam self-cleaning (KBSC), which makes these fibres
suitable for a variety of multimode-based applications. In this paper, a
full modal analysis of germanium (Ge)-doped graded-index multimode PCFs
with different geometrical sizes is provided. The influence of fibre
size on modal properties, such as effective refractive index,
birefringence and dispersion, was investigated using the finite element
method. It was found that the changes in the geometric parameters can
significantly affect the modal properties and then the frequency
generation and spectral broadening. Experimentally, high-efficiency
frequency generation with different frequency detunings was obtained in a
short length of each PCF by launching input pulses at 1064 nm pump
wavelength. For longer fibre length and high input power, supercontinuum
generation with improved broadening from visible to near IR by
intermodal four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman scattering was observed
in all PCFs. A study of the effect of input peak power, input
polarization axis and fibre length on supercontinuum spectrum is
presented. Experimental evidence of the KBSC effect as a function of
various fibre and laser parameters is also reported. The evolution of
spatial output beam pattern from higher-order mode to fundamental mode
with low-peak-power self-cleaning threshold was observed for all the
fibres by launching a 1064 nm pump laser with 1 ns pulse duration.