High spectral power femtosecond supercontinuum source by use of microlens array

Generation of a high spectral power supercontinuum (SC) is reported from controlled multifilamentation of femto-second pulses in fused silica. The use of a microlens array allows the manipulation of the filamentation pattern under very high-incident laser pulse energy without sample damage and, consequently, compared with using a single focusing lens, higher power of SC generation with a similar spectral broadening can be obtained. Moreover, the role of the interplay between diffraction pattern and proximity to the focus of the microlens array in SC generation is discussed. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America