Method and device for creating supercontinuum light pulses

摘要

A method of spectrally broadening light pulses, comprises the steps of providing the light pulses (1) with a laser source (10), said light pulses (1) having a pulse duration below 1 ps, in-coupling the light pulses (1) into a hollow optical waveguide device (20) including a Raman active pulse guiding medium (24), said light pulses (1) being subjected to a Raman nonlinearity in the optical waveguide device (20), and spectrally broadening the light pulses (1) propagating along the pulse guiding medium (24) by subjecting them to the Raman nonlinearity via excitation of a Raman polarization having a first Raman period, wherein the optical waveguide device (20) including the pulse guiding medium (24) subjects the light pulses (1) to anomalous group velocity dispersion which combines with the spectral broadening of the light pulses (1) to result in a Raman-enhanced self-compression of the light pulses (1), and the light pulses (1) further propagate along the optical waveguide device (20) such that the Raman-enhanced self-compression results in a further excitation of a Raman polarization having a second Raman period which is faster than the first Raman period, resulting in a further spectral broadening of the light pulses (1) up to a supercontinuum spectrum including wavelengths less than 300 nm. Furthermore, a light pulse source device (100) for creating light pulses with a supercontinuum spectrum is described.