Stable continuum generation in fibers with varying dispersion

An important method for obtaining broad optical spectra is continuum generation. The key to the stable supercontinuum source is a dispersion-decreasing fiber, which allows a continuum to be generated that is extremely broad (over an octave), smooth, symmetric about the pump wavelength, and stable against input pump noise. The stability is very important because even a small noise at the input can result in large fluctuations in the continuum.