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Controllable spatiotemporal nonlinear effects in multimode fibres

Nature Photonics volume 9, pages 306–310 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Multimode fibres are of interest for next-generation telecommunications systems and the construction of high-energy fibre lasers. However, relatively little work has explored nonlinear pulse propagation in multimode fibres. Here, we consider highly nonlinear ultrashort pulse propagation in the anomalous-dispersion regime of a graded-index multimode fibre. Low modal dispersion and strong nonlinear coupling between the fibre's many spatial modes result in interesting behaviour. We observe spatiotemporal effects reminiscent of nonlinear optics in bulk media—self-focusing and multiple filamentation1,2—at a fraction of the usual power. By adjusting the spatial initial conditions, we generate on-demand, megawatt, ultrashort pulses tunable between 1,550 and 2,200 nm; dispersive waves over one octave; intense combs of visible light; and a multi-octave-spanning supercontinuum. Our results indicate that multimode fibres present unique opportunities for observing new spatiotemporal dynamics and phenomena. They also enable the realization of a new type of tunable, broadband fibre source that could be useful for many applications.

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Figure 1: Simulation results showing the spectral features of high-energy propagation in a multimode GRIN fibre.
Figure 2: Experimental results for optimizing effects in the spectral domain.
Figure 3: Spatiotemporal dynamics in multimode GRIN fibre.

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Acknowledgements

Portions of this work were funded by the Office of Naval Research (grant no. N00014-13-1-0649). L.G.W. acknowledges support from NSERC and thanks E. Lamb for taking the photograph in Fig. 2n. The authors thank C. Xu for the loan of the laser used in the experiments and W. Renninger and A. Mafi for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Logan G. Wright & Frank W. Wise

  2. CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, 32816, Florida, USA

    Demetrios N. Christodoulides

Authors
  1. Logan G. Wright
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  3. Frank W. Wise
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L.G.W. performed experiments and simulations. L.G.W., D.N.C. and F.W.W. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Logan G. Wright.

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Wright, L., Christodoulides, D. & Wise, F. Controllable spatiotemporal nonlinear effects in multimode fibres. Nature Photon 9, 306–310 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.61

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