Low-threshold supercontinuum generation in glasses doped with silver nanoparticles.

We present a comprehensive study of low-threshold supercontinuum generation using the large frequency-dependent enhancement of the nonlinearity in glasses doped with silver nanoparticles. We predict octave-spanning asymmetric, blue-shifted spectral broadening of fs pulses with intensity in the range of tens of GW/cm(2). We also demonstrate the dependence of the spectral broadening on different physical parameters such as central operating wavelength, pulse duration, input power and the filling factor of the nanoparticles.