Numerical study of supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fiber

We report the results of a numerical study of an ultra wide-band supercontinuum generation in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We present the numerical results using a full vectorial finite element method that gives insight into the physical mechanisms responsible for the supercontinuum generation namely dispersion and Kerr effect. The propagation of femtosecond pulses in PCF is studied taking into account the effects of dispersion, self phase modulation, stimulated Raman scattering, and self steepening. The interaction of linear and nonlinear effects is investigated in order to better understand the generation of supercontinuum.