Miglė Kuliešaitė successfully defended her PhD thesis "Investigation of nonlinear coherent phenomena in photonic crystal fibers".
This thesis presents the first comprehensive study of supercontinuum generation in a highly nonlinear, polarisation-maintaining photonic crystal fibre (PCF), utilising a controlled burst of two orthogonally polarised femtosecond pulses for pumping. It also demonstrates the generation of ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) light spanning wavelengths from 375 to 500 nanometres in a short-length PCF.
Furthermore, the thesis introduces a novel method for measuring the nonlinear refractive index of optical fibres, enabling—for the first time—the estimation of the nonlinear coefficient (𝑛₂) in a fabricated PCF. A newly developed semi-analytical, non-iterative algorithm was successfully demonstrated and experimentally applied, allowing for rapid and reliable retrieval of pulse intensity and phase profiles, along with precise estimation of their uncertainties, from spectrograms acquired via the cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating (XFROG) technique.
These pioneering studies significantly enhance the understanding and optimisation of nonlinear effects in PCFs, and contribute to the development of advanced broadband laser sources.
Research Supervisor was Dr Vygandas Jarutis.
We extend our best wishes to Miglė for continued success and inspiring discoveries that will help shape the future of technology.