Coherence evolution of multi-pulse pumped supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion fibers

Abstract

We numerically calculate the coherence of supercontinuum (SC) spectrum generated in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fibers by multiple picosecond pulses. We show that multi-pulse pumping significantly mitigates the phenomenon of coherence degradation and maintains high spectral coherence over a broader wavelength range compared to the single pumping. It is found that inter-pulse four-wave-mixing (FWM) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) significantly contribute to the superior coherence characteristics of the SC. We further discuss the impact of key parameters on the multi-pulse pumped SC. Results indicate that a large temporal interval between pulses reduces spectral broadening efficiency, while closely spaced pulses generate a significant number of incoherent photons, severely degrading spectral coherence. Introducing initial chirp effectively mitigates this coherence degradation. A slight increase in the dispersion parameter notably suppresses the spectral broadening efficiency of the multi-pulse generation. Pulse shape primarily affects the SC shape without significantly impacting the spectral broadening efficiency.