Mid-infrared, wide-bandwidth, stable coherent optical sources generated by multi-material, nonlinear chalcogenide-glass fibers

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Objective:We aim to design, fabricate, and test multi-material fibers that incorporate highly nonlinear chalcogenide glasses for generation of mid-infrared (MIR) coherent radiation via third-order and second-order nonlinear optical interactions. Fiber preforms that incorporate new fiber designs will be fabricated by extrusion and drawn into fibers optimized to produce supercontinuum radiation that covers the entire mid-infrared spectrum.Intellectual merit:The proposed research integrates several areas of engineering and applied science including nonlinear optics, optical fibers, and material science. The success of the project rests on the resolution of several long-standing problems at the intersection of these fields (incorporation of multiple widely diverse materials in the same fiber, dispersion engineering in chalcogenide glass fibers, amongst others) and will thus foster future research in MIR nonlinear optics and parametric interactions in chalcogenide glass fibers.Broader Impacts:The project will engender for inter-disciplinary research to be carried out with a team of graduate and undergraduate students in a unique setting. Upon success, this project will have a transformative effect on the field of MIR spectroscopy and imaging. It will allow spectroscopists, for example, to pursue high-resolution MIR spectroscopy at high brightness levels not afforded by traditional incoherent (thermal) MIR sources. The MIR is particularly important in spectroscopy for molecular spectral finger-printing, and the availability of a high-brightness coherent wide-spectrum fiber-based source will allow for new modalities of spectroscopic imaging where spatial resolution is combined with spectral and temporal discrimination (as would be advantageous, for example, in Raman microscopy).