Supercontinuum generation is a process where light with very broad spectral bandwidth and high spatial coherence is generated. Considerable spectral broadening of optical pulses can be acheived. Applications for supercontinuum generation include spectroscopy, imaging, physics and chemistry research, sensors, optical coherence tomography and telecommunication WDM sources.

Sapphire White Light Generator

Focusing femtosecond pulses from an amplified Ti:sapphire laser into a sapphire plate produces a broad spectrum or "white-light" continuum. For sapphire the spectral range covers 450-900 nm; for CaF2 the spectral range covers 350-750 nm.