MEng Research Project: Supercontinuum Generation in the Ultraviolet
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge (CET IIB)
This MEng research project simulated the nonlinear propagation of ultrashort laser pulses through optical fibres to generate supercontinuum light (broadband white light) in the ultraviolet. The work was entirely computational, implementing a numerical solver from scratch in MATLAB.
The governing equation was the Generalised Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation (GNLSE), solved using the Split Step Fourier Method (SSFM). The solver was validated against known analytic solutions (optical solitons, Raman soliton self-frequency shift) and published results before being used to explore how fibre parameters and laser wavelength affect spectral broadening into the UV, a regime of practical interest for spectroscopy and metrology.
Methods: GNLSE · Split Step Fourier Method · Soliton dynamics · Raman scattering · MATLAB