Divided pulse soliton self-frequency shift: a multi-color, dual-polarization, power-scalable, broadly tunable optical source.

A versatile, broadly tunable, power scalable, multi-line, ultrafast source is presented, the operation of which is based on combining principles of pulse division with the phenomenon of the soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS). Interferometric pulse recombination is demonstrated showing that the source can decouple the generally limiting relationship between the output power and the center wavelength in SSFS-based optical sources. Broadly tunable two- and four-color soliton self-frequency shifted pulses are experimentally demonstrated. Simultaneous dual-polarization second-harmonic generation was performed with the source, demonstrating one novel imaging methodology that the source can enable. It is expected that this source architecture will be useful for advancing current nonlinear optical imaging methodologies.