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

目的：我们的目标是设计，制造和测试多材料光纤，将高度非线性硫系玻璃通过三阶和二阶非线性光学相互作用产生中红外（MIR）相干辐射。光纤预制件，包括新的光纤设计将通过挤压和拉成光纤优化生产超连续辐射，覆盖整个中红外光谱。智力优点：拟议的研究整合了工程和应用科学，包括非线性光学，光纤和材料科学的几个领域。该项目的成功取决于解决这些领域交叉的几个长期存在的问题（在同一光纤中加入多种多样的材料，硫系玻璃光纤中的色散工程等），并因此将促进未来在MIR非线性光学和硫系玻璃光纤中的参数相互作用方面的研究。该项目将产生跨学科的研究，将在一个独特的设置与研究生和本科生团队进行。成功后，该项目将对MIR光谱和成像领域产生变革性影响。例如，它将允许光谱学家在传统的非相干（热）MIR光源无法提供的高亮度水平下追求高分辨率MIR光谱。MIR在用于分子光谱指纹的光谱学中是特别重要的，并且高亮度相干宽光谱基于光纤的源的可用性将允许光谱成像的新模式，其中空间分辨率与光谱和时间鉴别相结合（这将是有利的，例如，在拉曼显微镜中）。

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).