All-fiber 2-6 μm coherent supercontinuum source based on chalcogenide fibers pumped by an amplified mid-IR soliton laser

We numerically and experimentally investigate an all-fiber configuration of coherent mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in the femtosecond pumping regime. In particular, we demonstrate the advantageous combination of various dispersion-engineered chalcogenide (Ge-Se-Te glass) fibers with a turn-key amplified femtosecond fiber laser delivering 175-fs soliton pulses around 3.4 & mu;m and developed from the erbium-doped fluoride fiber technology. Our results show that compact and coherent octave-spanning fiber supercontinuum sources centered on the 2-5 & mu;m infrared atmospheric window can be obtained with a maximum average power of 50 mW at 25 MHz repetition rate.