Here we summarize our progress in the development of 2- to 5-micron wavelength supercontinuum sources through grant number FA8650-05-C-5426 over the life of the program. The key developments over the past 3 years include 1) A proof-of-principle demonstration of a novel, efficient mid-IR Raman laser source in silica materials system, yielding efficient spectral transfer to 2.41 microns. (The demonstrated system can be naturally extended in wavelength to 5microns and beyond); ...
Modulation Instability (MI) is a universal process that appears in most nonlinear wave systems in nature. Because of MI, small amplitude and phase perturbations (from noise) grow rapidly under the combined effects of nonlinearity and diffraction (or dispersion, in the temporal domain). As a result, a broad optical beam or a quasi-continuous wave pulse disintegrates during propagation, leading to filamentation or to break-up into pulse trains. Modulation instability is largely ...