Power adjustable visible supercontinuum generation using amplified nanosecond gains-witched laser diode

Abstract

Supercontinuum (SC) light with a continuous spectrum covering 0.45-1.2 microm is scaled from 250-740 mW by varying the repetition rate of an amplified, frequency doubled, telecom laser diode. Efficient SC generation requires minimal non-linearity in the amplifier and anomalous dispersion pumping close to the fiber zero dispersion wavelength. Based on simulations, we present a 2-stage design that separates pulse break-up from spectral broadening to enhance the SC bandwidth for quasi-CW pumping.