Supercontinuum generation in tapered fibers

Supercontinuum light with a spectrum more than two octaves broad (370–1545 nm at the 20-dB level) was generated in a standard telecommunications fiber by femtosecond pulses from an unamplified Ti:sapphire laser. The fiber had been tapered to a diameter of $\sim 2 \mathit{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ over a 90-mm length. The pulse energy was 3.9 nJ (average power, 300 mW). This source of high-intensity single-mode white light should find widespread applications in frequency metrology and spectroscopy, especially since no unconventional fibers are needed.