Carbon chloride-core fibers for soliton mediated supercontinuum generation

We report on soliton-fission mediated infrared supercontinuum generation in liquidcore step-index fibers using highly transparent carbon chlorides (CCl4, C2Cl4). By developing models for the refractive index dispersions and nonlinear response functions, dispersion engineering and pumping with an ultrafast thulium fiber laser (300 fs) at 1.92 mu m, distinct soliton fission and dispersive wave generation was observed, particularly in the case of tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4). The measured results match simulations of both the generalized and a hybrid nonlinear Schrodinger equation, with the latter resembling the characteristics of a non-instantaneous medium via a static potential term and representing a simulation tool with substantially reduced complexity. We show that C2Cl4 has the potential for observing non-instantaneous soliton dynamics along meters of liquid-core fiber opening a feasible route for directly observing hybrid soliton dynamics. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement