Supercontinuum generation by nanosecond dual-wavelength pumping in microstructured optical fibers

We study experimentally the spectral evolution of supercontinua in two different microstructured fibers that are pumped with nanosecond pulses from dual-wavelength sources of either 1064/532 nm or 946/473 nm output. The experimental findings are compared with simulations based on numerically solving the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. The role of cascaded cross-phase modulation processes and the group-delay properties of the fiber are emphasized and demonstrated to determine the extent of the broadening of the continua to the visible wavelengths. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.