Spectrally Flat Supercontinuum Generation in a ZBLAN Fiber Pumped by Erbium-Doped Mode-Locked Fiber Laser

摘要： We have experimentally demonstrated the flat supercontinuum (SC) generation using a 10-m-long ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF (ZBLAN) fluoride fiber pumped by an erbium-doped mode-locked fiber laser incorporating carbon-nanotube-based saturable absorbers. In order to improve the spectral flatness of SC, the standardized single-mode fiber with different lengths is connected to the output of the mode-locked fiber laser before the pulse amplification. The generated SC with ZBLAN fiber exhibits the best spectral flatness with fluctuation less than 1.29 dB over the wavelength of 1571.8 nm ? 1803.1 nm, showing potential applications in optical sensing.