Design of an elliptical air-hole dual-core photonic crystal fiber for over two octaves spanning supercontinuum generation

Abstract

A highly birefringent polarization-maintaining dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF) structure with elliptical air holes around the cores has been designed for possible supercontinuum generation over two octaves spanning a spectral bandwidth in the 400- to 1800-nm wavelength range. The supercontinuum (SC) spectrum covers the near-UV, visual, and near-infrared regions of electromagnetic spectra when a hyperbolic secant pulse of 50 fs duration, 322 mW average power, and 80 MHz repetition rate corresponding to 4.03 nJ energy is launched into the DC-PCF around a 1060-nm pumping wavelength. The generated SC spectrum satisfies the necessary requirements for applications in biophotonics, telecommunications, and frequency metrology.