OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR GENERATION OF BROADBAND RADIATION

• Main Authors: SMEETS, Ralph, Jozef, Johannes, Gerardus, Anna, ABDOLVAND, Amir, PONGERS, Willem, Richard, PUTHANKOVILAKAM, Krishnaparvathy, UEBEL, Patrick, Sebastian
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 21.12.2022
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; CHEMISTRY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH ISMODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THEDEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF THE INTENSITY,COLOUR, PHASE, POLARISATION OR DIRECTION OF LIGHT, e.g.SWITCHING, GATING, MODULATING OR DEMODULATING; ELECTROGRAPHY; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; GLASS; HOLOGRAPHY; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; METALLURGY; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL; NANOTECHNOLOGY; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; TECHNIQUES OR PROCEDURES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF; TRANSPORTING

In this document a monolithic optical element for generating broadband radiation upon receiving input radiation at an input end of the optical element is disclosed, the optical element comprising: a hollow core region for guiding the input radiation along a longitudinal axis of the optical element towards and output end of the optical element; a cladding region surrounding the core region along the longitudinal axis and comprising transversally arranged micro-structures configured to provide non-linear optical behaviour to the optical element causing the generation of the broadband radiation; and a supporting region surrounding the cladding region along the longitudinal axis of at least part of the optical element, characterized in that the supporting region has a transversal dimension which is sufficiently large to render said at least part of the optical element substantially rigid.