Ultrabroadband wavelength-swept source based
on total mode-locking of an Yb:CaF
2
laser
MACIEJ KOWALCZYK,
1,
*TADEUSZ MARTYNKIEN,
2
PAWEŁ MERGO,
3
GRZEGORZ SOBO
´
N,
1
AND JAROSŁAW SOTOR
1
1
Laser & Fiber Electronics Group, Faculty of Electronics, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27,
50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
2
Department of Optics and Photonics, Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology,
Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
3
Laboratory of Optical Fiber Technology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, pl. M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 3, Lublin, Poland
*Corresponding author: m.kowalczyk@pwr.edu.pl
Received 17 August 2018; revised 8 November 2018; accepted 18 December 2018; posted 18 December 2018 (Doc. ID 342584);
published 24 January 2019
We present an ultrabroadband, high-speed wavelength-swept source based on a self-modulated femtosecond
oscillator. Photonic crystal fiber was pumped by a mode-locked Yb:CaF
2
laser, resulting in a strong spectral broad-
ening from 485 to 1800 nm. The pump laser cavity could be realigned in order to achieve total mode-locking of the
longitudinal and transverse TEM
00
and TEM
01
electromagnetic modes. This led to spatial oscillations of the output
beam, which induced modulation of the coupling efficiency to the fiber. Due to the fact that nonlinear spectral
broadening was intensity dependent, this mechanism introduced wavelength sweeping at the fiber output. The
sweeping rate could be adjusted between 7 and 21.5 MHz by changing the geometry of the pump cavity. By con-
trolling the ratio of the transverse mode amplitudes, we were able to tune the sweeping bandwidth, eventually
covering both the 1300 nm and 1700 nm bioimaging transparency windows. When compared with previously
demonstrated wavelength-swept sources, our concept offers much broader tunability and higher speed. Moreover,
it does not require an additional intensity modulator.
© 2019 Chinese Laser Press
https://doi.org/10.1364/PRJ.7.000182
1. INTRODUCTION
Wavelength-swept laser sources have numerous applications in
biomedical sciences, e.g., frequency-domain fluorescence micros-
copy [1], swept-source phase microscopy [2], and optical coherence
tomography (OCT) [3,4]. Among these bioimaging methods, the
latter is definitely the most frequently employed in real-life clinical
practice, and it typically makes it possible to obtain micrometer
(μm) resolution with a tissue penetration depth of several milli-
meters (mm). Typically, OCT systems operate at three different
IR transmission windows: ∼800 nm [5], ∼1300 nm [4], and
∼1700 nm [6]. The long-wavelength range exhibits the highest
water absorption; however, it has been demonstrated that due to
the reduced impact of scattering it can support superior penetration
depth not only in low-water-level samples [6–8]. Except for the
spectral emission, which should be appropriate for the specific
transmission window, the other crucial parameters of the employed
swept source are the wavelength tunability range (which defines
the achievable resolution) and the sweeping rate (determining the
image acquisition time). Explicitly, it is favorable to use a broad-
band source with as high a tuning speed as possible.
Several various wavelength-swept sources have already been
demonstrated. One approach relies on a laser employing a
mechanically tunable optical filter [9]; however, these devices
suffer from relatively low tuning speed, which is limited to
several ten s of kilohertz (kHz). Higher sweeping rates up to
1 MHz can be achieved with actively mode-locked lasers rely-
ing on dispersion tuning [10,11] and Fourier-domain mode-
locking [12]. An entirely different approach is based on soliton
self-frequency shift (SSFS) of ultrashort pulses in a highly non-
linear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). When a femtosecond
high-intensity pulse propagates along the fiber, the process
of intrapulse stimulated Raman scattering induces soliton spec-
tral redshift. Importantly, the shift is proportional to the inten-
sity of the coupled radiation, and thus the central wavelength of
the emitted beam can be tuned simply by controlling the input
power [13]. The magnitude of the shift can amount to a few
hundred nanometers, while the pulse maintains its sech
2
shape
as well as coherence [14–17]. Simultaneously, the blueshifted
part of the spectrum can be also broadened due to dispersive
wave (Cherenkov radiation) generation [18,19]. Raman SSFS
has been exploited for wavelength-swept infrared laser sources:
the output of a mode-locked laser is coupled to PCF, and the
input power is controlled with an acousto-optical modulator
[20,21]. With an ytterbium-based pumping, tunability of
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Vol. 7, No. 2 / February 2019 / Photonics Research
Research Article
2327-9125/19/020182-05 Journal © 2019 Chinese Laser Press