Widely tunable parametric generation of picosecond visible and mid-infrared radiation in optical fibers

Parametric generation in an endlessly single-mode photonic crystal fiber can be a simple and efficient way to generate tunable visible and mid-infrared radiation. In this manuscript we report on a visible light source that is tunable from 628nm to 661nm with up to 25% conversion efficiency. This was obtained by tuning the parametric pump from 1030nm to 1055nm in a 1.6m long LMA-10 PM photonic crystal fiber. At the same time, the source generates mid-infrared radiation that can be tuned from ~2.65µm to ~2.9µm. A further increase of the tunable range of both the visible and midinfrared is possible simply by extending the pump tuning range.