Fibre supercontinuum generation: Progress and perspectives

¹ Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, CNRS, Institut FEMTO-ST - F-25000 Besançon, France
² Institut Universitaire de France - Paris, France
³ Photonics Laboratory, Tampere University - FI-33104 Tampere, Finland
⁴ Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bern - 3012 Bern, Switzerland
⁵ School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University - Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
⁶ Department of Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London - London SW7 2BW, UK

Received: 3 May 2025
Accepted: 22 August 2025

Abstract

Broadband supercontinuum generation in optical fibre has revolutionized multiple fields of physics including frequency metrology, spectroscopy, and imaging. Although the last twenty five years have seen many remarkable results, the field remains as active as ever, and this perspective aims to provide insights into current and emerging developments. Particular topics of review include recent advances in new fibre materials and designs, the use of gas-filled hollow core fibres, multimode and spatio-temporal effects, improved understanding of the underlying nonlinear dynamics, and techniques for spectral optimisation using machine learning.