Abstract:
We experimentally study the characteristics of optical rogue waves in supercontinuum generation in the femtosecond regime. Specifically, the intensity histograms obtained from spectrally filtering the supercontinuum exhibit the L-shaped characteristics typical of extreme-value phenomena on both the long-wavelength and short-wavelength edges of the spectrum owing to cross-phase modulation and soliton-dispersive wave coupling. Furthermore, the form of the histogram on the long-wavelength edge varies from L-shaped to quasi-Gaussian as wavelengths closer to the pump are included in the filtered measurements. Our observations are in agreement with numerical simulations. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America