Supercontinuum generation at 1.55 μm in a dispersion-flattened polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber

We demonstrate the generation of symmetrical supercontinuum of over 40 nm in the 1.55 mum region ( 1540 - 1580 nm) by injecting 1562 nm, 2.2 ps, 40 GHz optical pulses into a 200 m-long, dispersion-flattened polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber. The chromatic dispersion and dispersion slope of the fiber at 1.55 mum are -0.23 ps/km/nm and 0.01 ps/km/nm(2), respectively. This is the first report of 1.55 mum band supercontinuum generation in a dispersion-flattened and polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.