Abstract

Frequency conversion and supercontinuum generation are important topics in nonlinear optics. With advances in optical fibres, spectral broadening has been demonstrated in the visible, near infrared and ultraviolet (UV) spectral regions. In this work we extend this progress into the vacuum UV (VUV). Although silica glass itself suffers solarisation when exposed to UV light, suitably designed kagomé-style hollow core photonic crystal fibre (kagomé-PCF) [1] can provide damage-free guidance in the VUV [2]. This is because light propagates predominantly in the hollow core, only a tiny fraction (~0.01%) overlapping with the glass [3]. In addition, kagomé-PCFs offer very broad windows of transmission with relatively low loss as well as dispersion (GVD) and nonlinear coefficients that are tunable by choice of gas species and pressure in the fibre [3].

© 2015 IEEE