Flatly broadened supercontinuum generation in dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fibre using compressed picosecond pulses

We experimentally demonstrated the use of a standard single mode fibre as a picosecond pulse compressor before a 80 m long dispersion-flattened photonic crystal fibre for broadening the supercontinuum. The effects of compressor length and fibre input power on the supercontinuum bandwidth and flatness are investigated experimentally and numerically. An analytical expression of the optimal input power for a fixed length compressor to generate the broadest supercontinuum is obtained and verified. Compared with only using photonic crystal fibre, the generated supercontinuum's − 20 dB bandwidth is broadened from 74.1 to 264.2 nm covering the S + C + L + U bands by using a 20 m long standard single mode fibre with an optimal peak input power of 114.27 W. (paper)