New horizons for Supercontinuum light sources: from UV to mid-IR

Commercially available supercontinuum sources continue to experience a strong growth in a wide range of industrial and scientific applications. In addition, there is a significant research effort focused on extending the wavelength coverage both towards UV and Mid-IR. Broadband sources covering these wavelength regions have received significant attention from potential users, as there is a wide array of applications for which there are few suitable alternative light sources – if any. Our developments in the field of Mid-IR supercontinuum sources have been based on radical approaches; such as soft glasses and novel pumping schemes, whereas shifting the spectrum further towards the UV has been based on sophisticated microstructure fiber designs. Here we present our latest developments in tailoring the power and spectral coverage of spatially coherent broadband supercontinuum sources.