Five-Octave-Spanning Supercontinuum Generation in Fluoride Glass

An ultra-broadband supercontinuum (SC) covering 0.2-8.0 mu m which is more than 5 octaves, is demonstrated in a piece of fluoride glass. The 20 dB bandwidth spans from 0.39 to 7.4 mu m. The filaments, bright conic visible emission, and interference fringe pattern are observed. The glass thickness, optical path, and pump conditions are optimized to enable the SC to cover the entire transmission range of the glass, which includes the whole functional group region of chemical bands and groups. The SC conversion efficiency is confirmed to be stable. (C) 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics