Dispersive wave generation in photonic crystal fibers with normal dispersion pumping

We present a comprehensive numerical and experimental study of dispersive wave emission in photonic crystal fibers from femtosecond pulses under normal dispersion pumping. We investigate its dependence on peak power, pump wavelength, and polarization angle, as well as its beneficial impact on supercontinuum generation. Our findings underscore the crucial role of higher-order dispersion in accurately modeling optical wave breaking and dispersive wave generation in the anomalous dispersion regime. Experimentally, our results show excellent agreement with numerical simulations, further validating the phase-matching model for predicting the dispersive wave position. Additionally, we measure the relative intensity noise using the dispersive Fourier transform technique. Our results suggest that achieving all-normal dispersion may not be essential to suppress instabilities, potentially improving the efficiency of coherent supercontinuum generation in the normal dispersion regime. (c) 2025 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved.