Abstract
The generation of supercontinuum spectra from the injection of femtosecond pulses into microstructure or tapered fibers has now been achieved by several groups [1, 2]. In 2001, we generated a supercontinuum around 1.55 ยตm by injecting a 100โfsโduration fiber laser pulse with a 1โnJ pulse energy into a 5โmโlong highly nonlinear dispersionโshifted fiber. The supercontinuum is a remarkable light source for applications in many fields due to its extreme spectral broadness and simple generation scheme. These unique properties should make the supercontinuum an ideal tool for important applications, including WDM telecommunications, optical coherence tomography, and opticalโfrequency measurement. However, significant broadband noise on the supercontinuum has been observed, limiting its stability, so that the supercontinuum is too noisy for many applications.
In this study, we experimentally analyze the correlation among supercontinuum spectra that contribute to increasing and decreasing this noise by spectral filtering using spatial light modulator. We observed the formation of correlations among supercontinuum spectra for two fibers which have different properties for chromatic dispersion. We also discuss how nonlinear effects act on the formation of correlations. ยฉ 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 158(3): 55โ60, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20435