Patent ID: 8422519

Claim:
An optical supercontinuum radiation source for generating a broad optical supercontinuum from pump radiation having a wavelength in the range 900 nm to 1200 nm, comprising: a microstructured optical fibre comprising a core region and a cladding region which surrounds the core region; a pump laser adapted to generate pump radiation at a pump wavelength and to pump said microstructured optical fibre with said pump radiation; said pump wavelength being in the range 900 nm to 1200 nm; said core region of said fibre comprising a first refractive index and said cladding region comprising an effective refractive index such that said fibre has a Δ (“delta”) value of greater than 0.03, where Δ refers to the ratio of the difference between the refractive index of the core region and the effective refractive index of the cladding to the refractive index of the core region; said core region supporting a plurality of modes at said pump wavelength; said cladding region comprising at least two air holes extending along the length of fibre and wherein the ratio of the diameter (d) of said air holes to their pitch (Λ) is greater than 0.6; and wherein said fibre comprises a zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) within ±200 nm of said pump wavelength.