Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Supercontinua

Entering the mid-infrared

Nature Photonics volume 8, pages 814–815 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

The demonstration of chalcogenide fibre-based supercontinuum sources that reach beyond a wavelength of ten micrometres is set to have a major impact on spectroscopy and molecular sensing.

Supercontinuum generation is one of the most fascinating effects in nonlinear optics. Starting with a nearly monochromatic input beam, a rainbow of colours can be generated, continuously spanning more than one optical octave across the visible and near-infrared spectral region. Compared with conventional white-light sources (including the Sun), the resulting white light of these supercontinua may reach a spectral brightness that is up to a million times brighter. Furthermore, the excellent spatial coherence of fibre-based white-light sources allows for laser-like tight focusing while overcoming the monochromatic nature of conventional continuous-wave lasers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Illustration of supercontinuum generation in the mid-infrared 'molecular fingerprint' region.

References

  1. Alfano, R. R. (ed.) The Supercontinuum Laser Source 2nd edn (Springer, 2006).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Herrmann, J. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 173901 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Qin, G. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 161103 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Petersen, C. R. et al. Nature Photon. 8, 830–834 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pigeon, J. J., Tochitsky, S. Ya., Gong, C. & Joshi, C. Opt. Lett. 39, 3246–3249 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Eggleton, B. J., Luther-Davies, B. & Richardson, K. Nature Photon. 5, 141–148 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bernhardt, B. et al. Nature Photon. 4, 55–57 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Russell, P. Science 299, 358–362 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Günter Steinmeyer is at the Max Born Institute, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489 Berlin, Germany,

    Günter Steinmeyer

  2. Julia S. Skibina is at LLC SPE Nanostructured Glass Technology, Prospect 50 let Oktyabrya 101, Saratov 410033, Russian Federation,

    Julia S. Skibina

Authors
  1. Günter Steinmeyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia S. Skibina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Günter Steinmeyer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Steinmeyer, G., Skibina, J. Entering the mid-infrared. Nature Photon 8, 814–815 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.254

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.254

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing