Picojoule-level octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in chalcogenide waveguides

Low propagation loss Ge23Sb7S70 waveguides (0.56 dB/cm) are fabricated in a wafer scale process. Simulation of a 2cm long, 1.2 mu m wide waveguide with 100ps/nm/km peak dispersion predicts coherent supercontinuum generation at 1.55 mu m pump wavelength. Octave-spanning supercontinuum using a dispersive wave is experimentally demonstrated using picojoule-level energy (26 pJ, 240 fs pulse width, 77 W peak power) pulses. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement