Supercontinuum generation with amplified 1.57 µm picosecond semiconductor disk laser

1.6 GHz repetition rate supercontinuum generation with a highly GeO2-codoped silica fibre is demonstrated. The fibre was pumped with a 1.57 µm modelocked semiconductor disk laser–fibre amplifier system. The continuum covered the spectrum from 1.35 to 2 µm with average output power of 3.5 W. This reported work provided the first demonstration of a supercontinuum generation using a modelocked semiconductor disk laser as a pump source.