Tailoring frequency generation in uniform and concatenated multimode fibers

We demonstrate that frequency generation in multimode parabolic-index fibers can be precisely engineered through appropriate fiber design. This is accomplished by exploiting the onset of a geometric parametric instability that arises from resonant spatiotemporal compression. By launching the output of an amplified Q-switched microchip laser delivering 400 ps pulses at 1064 nm, we observe a series of intense frequency sidebands that strongly depend on the fiber core size. The nonlinear frequency generation is analyzed in three fiber samples with 50 mu m, 60 mu m, and 80 mu m core diameters. We further demonstrate that by cascading fibers of different core sizes, a desired frequency band can be generated from the frequency lines parametrically produced in each section. The observed frequency shifts are in good agreement with analytical predictions and numerical simulations. Our results suggest that core scaling and fiber concatenation can provide a viable avenue in designing optical sources with tailored output frequencies. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America