Ultraviolet Light Generation in Gas-Filled Kagome Photonic Crystal Fiber

Abstract

Kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fibers were found to be ideal for the occurrence of ultrafast non-linear optics. This article reports the optimal conditions for the generation of ultraviolet light using a gas filled kagome hollow-core-photonic crystal fiber. It is shown that by changing the pressure of the gas and the input pulse characteristics, the efficiency of conversion and quality of ultraviolet light can be improved, as well as tuning its central frequency. Results suggest that a highly coherent and tunable ultraviolet light source can be constructed, which can find numerous applications.

Keywords:

• fiber optics
• non-linear fibers
• photonic crystal fiber
• ultrafast optics
• ultraviolet light

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) for financial support through the project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011 and the scholarship ref. SFRH/BI/52527/2014.

Notes on contributors

Sílvia M. G. Rodrigues

Sílvia M.G. Rodrigues was born in Mortágua, Portugal, in 1988. She received her B.S. in informatics engineering in 2010 from University of Coimbra (UC), Portugal, with the “3% best students award” in 3 consecutive years, and received her M.S. in physics in 2012 from University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal. While she was studying in UC, she was also a researcher in the Instrumentation and Experimental Physics Laboratory (LIP), where she worked on software for simulation and data analysis of physical systems. She is currently a researcher in the Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (I3N). Her research interests include micro-structured optical fibers, non-linear optics, supercontinuum generation, and telecommunications.

Margarida Facão

Margarida Facão was born in Portugal in 1971. She received her degree in physics in 1993 from University of Aveiro (Portugal) and her Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 2004 from University of Edinburgh (UK). She is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Physics, University of Aveiro. Her research interests include non-linear evolution equations (equilibrium solutions and stability), non-linear optics, and optical communications.

Mário F. S. Ferreira

Mário F.S. Ferreira was born in Ovar, Portugal. He graduated in physics from the University of Porto, Portugal and received his Ph.D. in physics in 1992 from University of Aveiro, Portugal. Between 1990 and 1991, he was at University of Essex (UK) performing experimental work on external cavity semiconductor lasers and non-linear optical fiber amplifiers. His research interests are the modeling and characterization of multi-section semiconductor lasers for coherent optical systems, quantum well lasers, optical fiber amplifiers and lasers, soliton propagation, nanophotonics, polarization, and non-linear effects in optical fibers. He has written about 300 scientific journal and conference publications in addition to books Nonlinear Effects in Optical Fibers and Optics and Photonics. He is a member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), International Society for Optical and Photonics (SPIE), and the Portuguese Physical Society. He is an SPIE traveling lecturer, having delivered multiple lectures around the world. He served in various committees of the OSA and SPIE, as well as in the technical committees of various international conferences. Since 2010, he has been the general chair of the “Optical Sensors” conference, part of the OSA Advanced Photonics Congress. He is presently an associate editor of Optical Fiber Technology—Materials, Devices, and Systems and a member of the Advisory Board of several journals.