What is supercontinuum source?
Supercontinuum light sources are generally used for purposes where one requires light with a broad optical bandwidth (i.e., low temporal coherence) but at the same time a high degree of spatial coherence, so that the light can be well collimated and focused (with some limitations by chromatic aberrations).
What is supercontinuum fiber?
In optics, a supercontinuum is formed when a collection of nonlinear processes act together upon a pump beam in order to cause severe spectral broadening of the original pump beam, for example using a microstructured optical fiber. The result is a smooth spectral continuum (see figure 1 for a typical example).
What are the causes of self-phase modulation?
Self-phase modulation (SPM) is a nonlinear optical effect of light–matter interaction. An ultrashort pulse of light, when travelling in a medium, will induce a varying refractive index of the medium due to the optical Kerr effect.
What is self steepening?
For a laser pulse travelling through an optical fiber, its intensity is highest at its peak, so the Kerr effect will be strongest there. This means that the peak travels slightly slower than the rest of the pulse, leading to self-steepening of its trailing edge.
What are non linear optical materials?
Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have long been known to interact with light, to produce a nonlinear response and the composition of these materials, generally falls into one of two classes, either inorganic or organic.
How are nonlinear optics obtained?
The most common way of producing optical phase conjugation is to use a four-wave mixing technique, though it is also possible to use processes such as stimulated Brillouin scattering.
What is self phase modulation in optical fiber?
What are the causes of self phase modulation and cross phase modulation?
Self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM, or CPM) are two of the most important nonlinear effects in optical telecommunications. Both effects lead to a phase alteration of the pulses and are frequently called carrier-induced phase modulation (CIP).
What is a nonlinear fiber property?
NLO properties in a molecule originate from the interactions between the electrons in the molecule and the electric fields in light (electromagnetic radiation).