Broader and flatter supercontinuum spectra in dispersion-tailored fibers

In summary, we find experimentally that dispersion decreasing (DD) fiber produces broader and smoother supercontinuum (SC) spectra than dispersion increasing (DI) or constant dispersion fiber. At 24.3 W peak input power, the SC spectrum of DD fiber is over 100 nm wide, over twice that created by constant dispersion fiber. The spectrum is also relatively flat over the 20-nm range from 1545-1565 nm. We will also report applications of the multiwavelength SC source to erbium doped fiber amplifiers and wavelength-division multiplexed fiber characterization.