High-power mid-infrared supercontinuum generation in a fluoroindate fiber with over 2 W power beyond 3.8 μm

An all-fiber mid-infrared supercontinuum (MIR-SC) laser source with a power of over 2 W beyond 3.8 mu m is demonstrated. The SC laser involves a silica-fiber-based SC laser as a pump source and a piece of fluoroindate (InF3) fiber as a nonlinear medium. The influence of pump pulse repetition rate on the SC characteristics is carefully studied. In the InF3 fiber, the pump pulse with spectral coverage of 1.9-2.6 mu m is converted into MIR-SC with a broadest spectral coverage of 1.9-4.9 mu m and a maximal average power of 11.8 W. Up to 2.18 W is measured in the spectral region beyond 3.8 mu m, which, to the best of the authors' knowledge, demonstrates the record SC power in this waveband to date. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement