Towards integration of a liquid-filled fiber capillary for supercontinuum generation in the 1.2-2.4 μm range

We demonstrate supercontinuum generation in unspliced as well as in integrated CS2-filled capillary fibers at different pump wavelengths of 1030 nm, 1510 nm, and 1685 nm. A novel method for splicing a liquid-filled capillary fiber to a standard single-mode optical fiber is presented. This method is based on mechanical splicing using a direct-laser written polymer ferrule using a femtosecond two-photon polymerization process. We maintain mostly single-mode operation despite the multi-mode capability of the liquid-filled capillaries. The generated supercontinua exhibit a spectral width of over 1200 nm and 1000 nm for core diameters of 5 mu m and 10 mu m, respectively. This is an increase of more than 50 percent compared to previously reported values in the literature due to improved dispersion properties of the capillaries. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America