Abstract

A laser source able to provide a tunable light in the entire visible spectral region is very important for biomedical applications such as fluorescence spectroscopy, microscopy, and Optical Coherence Tomography just to mention few. In this context Ti:Sapphire laser is a common tool for researcher because of its large tunability (700-1050 nm) and short temporal pulses and a great effort was recently done to extend its output to visible region by continuum generation in highly-nonlinear fiber (HNLF). However HNLF fundamental mode dispersion in the visible interval is strong and generated spectrum drops at -500 nm. A recent approach is to use high-order mode propagation in a micro-structured shift that occurs as the mode order increases [1]. Several interesting works have been reported [2] with common feature of 800 nm pump wavelength at fundamental MSF mode zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW). But still an optimised design was not found.

© 2007 IEEE