Self-cleaning optical fibre (IMAGE) Tampere University Caption Utilizing two glasses with a different refractive index and stacked with a specific arrangement has allowed researchers to develop for the first time a multimodal fiber with a parabolic refractive index with transmission up to the mid-infrared and high nonlinearity. The spectrum of short pulses of light injected into the fiber massively broadens to span from the visible to mid-infrared. Significantly, unlike in conventional multimode fibers, the light beam remains smooth as the result of self-cleaning dynamics induced by the parabolic refractive index. Such a light source with ultrabroad spectrum, smooth beam and high power finds applications in e.g. environmental sensing or high-resolution imaging for medical diagnostics. Credit Tampere University Usage Restrictions Illustration to be used only when referring to this article. License Original content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.