Q-switched ytterbium doped fiber laser using multi-walled carbon nanotubes saturable absorber

A Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser(YDFL)is proposed and demonstrated using a newly developed multi-walled carbon nanotubes polyethylene oxide(MWCNTs-PEO)film as a passive saturable absorber(SA).The saturable absorber is prepared by mixing the MWCNTs homogeneous solution into a dilute PEO polymer solution before it is left to dry at room temperature to produce thin film.Then the film is sandwiched between two FC/PC fiber connectors and integrated into the laser cavity for Q-switching pulse generation.The laser generates a stable pulse operating at wavelength of 1060.2 nm with a threshold pump power of 53.43 mW.The YDFL generates a stable pulse train with repetition rates ranging from7.92 to 24.27 kHz by varying 980-nm pump power from 53.42 to 65.72 mW.At 59.55-mW pump power,the lowest pulse width and the highest pulse energy are obtained at 12.18μs and 143.5 nJ,respectively.     

Q-switched ytterbium doped carbon nanotubes fiber laser using multi-walled saturable absorber

A Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser （YDFL） is proposed and demonstrated using a newly developed multi-walled carbon nanotubes polyethylene oxide （MWCNTs-PEO） film as a passive saturable absorber （SA）. The saturable absorber is prepared by mixing the MWCNTs homogeneous solution into a dilute PEO polymer solution before it is left to dry at room temperature to produce thin film. Then the film is sandwiched between two FC/PC fiber connectors and integrated into the laser cavity for Q-switching pulse generation. The laser generates a stable pulse operating at wavelength of 1060.2 nm with a threshold pump power of 53.43 mW. The YDFL generates a stable pulse train with repetition rates ranging from 7.92 to 24.27 kHz by varying 980-nm pump power from 53.42 to 65.72 mW. At 59.55-mW pump power, the lowest pulse width and the highest pulse energy are obtained at 12.18 μs and 143.5 n J, respectively.     

Passively Q-switched fiber laser based on graphene saturable absorber

A passively graphene Q-switched Erbium doped fiber laser around 1.5 μm is demonstrated in this paper. The graphene saturable absorber was fabricated by sandwiching a thin graphene film produced via chemical vapor deposition between two FC fiber connectors. Stable pulse trains were obtained with the pulse repetition rate varying between 34.72 and 53.2 kHz and the average output power ranging from 0.504 mW to 0.926 mW. The achieved shortest pulse duration and highest pulse energy were 3.2 μs and 17.41 nJ, respectively.     

Passively Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

A passively Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) is demonstrated. Q-switching is observed with the output power produced at a slope efficiency of 29.4% with respect to the absorbed pump power. The maximum average output power of 8.37 mW is achieved. The pulse repetition frequency obtained can be turned from 1.72 to 7.95 kHz. The pulse energy of 17.2 nJ has been obtained at the pump power of 46.75 mW, and the pulse width is 30 μs.     

Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser with low pumping threshold using graphene saturable absorber

We propose a Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser(EDFL) with a threshold pumping power as low as 7.4 mW, and demonstrate using graphene polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) thin film as a passive saturable absorber(SA). The SA is fabricated from graphene flakes, which is synthesized by electrochemical exfoliation of graphite at room temperature in 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate aqueous solution. The flakes are mixed with PVA solution to produce a thin film, which is then sandwiched between two ferrules to form a SA and integrated in the EDFL ring cavity to generate a stable Q-switched pulse train. The pulse train operates at 1560 nm with a threshold pump power of 7.4 mW. At maximum 1480 nm pump power of 33.0 mW, the EDFL generates an optical pulse train with a repetition rate of 27.0 kHz and pulse width of 3.56 μs. The maximum pulse energy of 39.4 nJ is obtained at a pump power of 14.9 mW. This laser can be used as a simple and low-cost light source for metrology, environmental sensing, and biomedical diagnostics.     

氧化石墨烯被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器

报道了基于氧化石墨烯的被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器。激光器采用环形腔结构,调Q器件为自制的氧化石墨烯可饱和吸收镜。泵浦功率在81~505 mW范围内时,得到了重复频率68~124 kHz的稳定的调Q脉冲输出,脉宽为0.47~1.60 s。由于泵浦功率限制,激光器最大输出功率为10 mW, 相应单脉冲能量为80.6 nJ。此种基于氧化石墨烯可饱和吸收体的被动调Q光纤激光器体积小、成本低廉、结构简单、稳定性高、光束质量高,具有广阔的应用前景。     

石墨烯可调谐被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器

基于光学沉积方法,制备了石墨烯可饱和吸收体,并利用此可饱和吸收体搭建了环形腔结构的被动调Q掺铒光纤激光器,实现了稳定的调Q激光脉冲输出,其重复频率为5.1~14.2 kHz,最窄激光脉冲宽度为8 s,最大平均功率为162.3 W,且通过调节偏振控制器,中心波长在1556~1558 nm可调。     

Multi-wavelength Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser with a short carbon nanotube based saturable absorber

We demonstrate an all-fiber passively multi-wavelength Q-switched Erbium doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on a short Carbon Nanotube based saturable absorber. With the saturable absorber connected in a longer standing wave based fiber laser cavity, stable single, dual, and multiple wavelength Q-switched low threshold EDFL are achieved. Experimental results show that the output pulse of the filtered single wavelength has the same repetition rate as that of the multi-wavelength output while its average output power is lower than that of the multi-wavelength output.     

Tunable passively Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser using MoWS2/rGO nanocomposite saturable absorber

We demonstrated a tunable Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) using MoWS₂/rGO nanocomposite as passive saturable absorber. Further, the Mo_1?xW_xS₂/rGO nanosheets, with x proportion of 0.2, are synthesized using hydrothermal exfoliation technique. The proposed nanocomposite-PVA based thin film is fabricated by mixing the MoWS₂/rGO nanosheets with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The fabricated thin film is sandwiched between two fiber ferrules to realize the proposed saturable absorber (SA). Further, the proposed MoWS₂/rGO-PVA based thin film SA exhibits a fast relaxation time and a high damage threshold which are suitable to realize a Q-switched pulsed laser with a tunable wavelength range of 10?nm that extends from 1028?nm to 1038?nm. For the highest pump power of 267.4?mW, the generated Q-switched pulses exhibit a narrow pulse width of 1.22 μs, the pulse repetition rate of 90.4?kHz, the highest pulse energy of 2.13?nJ and its corresponding average power of 0.193?mW. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first realization of a tunable Q-switching fiber laser in a 1?μm wavelength using MoWS₂/rGO nanocomposite saturable absorber.     

A Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser based on ZrS_2 as a saturable absorber

A passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber(EDF) laser is proposed and demonstrated utilizing a zirconium disulfide(ZrS_2)-based saturable absorber(SA). ZrS_2 nanosheets are prepared, whose modulation depth,saturation intensity, and nonsaturable absorbance are measured to be 14.7%, 0.34 MW/cm~2, and 17.4%, respectively. Then, a Q-switched EDF laser is implemented by the ZrS_2-SA. The pulse repetition rate varies from 40.65 to 87.1 k Hz when the pump power changes from 55 to 345 mW. The shortest pulse width is 1.49 μs with pulse energy of 33.5 nJ. As far as we know, this is the shortest pulse width obtained by a ZrS_2-SA so far.     

Tunable passively Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser with mechanically exfoliated GaSe saturable absorber

A tunable passively Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser using few-layer gallium selenide(GaSe) as a saturable absorber(SA) is demonstrated.The few-layer GaSe SA,which is fabricated by the mechanical exfoliation method,is able to generate a Q-switched fiber laser that has a maximum repetition rate of 92.6 kHz and a minimum pulsed width of 2.3 μs.The highest pulse energy exhibited by the generated pulse is 18.8 nJ with a signal to noise ratio of ~40 dB.The tunability of the proposed laser covers from 1042 to 1082 nm,giving a tuning range of 40 nm.     

High-power all-fiber passively Q-switched laser using a doped fiber as a saturable absorber: numerical simulations

We report a design for a power-scalable all-fiber passively Q-switched laser that uses a large mode area Yb-doped fiber as a gain medium adiabatically tapered to an unpumped single-mode Yb-doped fiber, which serves as a saturable absorber. Through the use of a comprehensive numerical simulator, we demonstrate a passively Q-switched 1030 nm pulsed laser with 14 ns pulse duration and 0.5 mJ pulse energy operating at 200 kHz repetition rate. The proposed configuration has a potential for orders of magnitude of improvement in both the pulse energies and durations compared to the previously reported result. The key mechanism for this improvement relates to the ratio of the core areas between the pumped inverted large mode area gain fiber and the unpumped doped single-mode fiber.     

Zinc-oxide nanoparticle-based saturable absorber deposited by simple evaporation technique for Q-switched fiber laser

A Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) incorporating zinc-oxide(ZnO) nanoparticles-based saturable absorber(SA) is proposed and demonstrated. To form the SA, the ZnO nanoparticles, which are originally in the powder form, are first dissolved in ethanol and subsequently deposited onto the surface of fiber ferrule by using the adhesion effect with the evaporation technique. By integrating the ZnO nanoparticle-based SA into a laser cavity of an EDFL, a self-started and stable Q-switching is achieved at a low threshold power of 20.24 mW. As the pump power is increased, the pulse repetition rate is tunable from 10.34 kHz to 25.59 kHz while pulse duration decreases from 21.39 μs to 3.65 μs. Additionally,this Q-switched laser has a maximum energy per pulse of 19.34 nJ and an average output power of 0.46 mW. These results indicate the feasibility and functionality of the ZnO nanoparticles-based SA for Q-switched generation, which offers the flexibility and easy integration of the SA into a ring laser cavity.     

碳纳米管锁模双包层光纤激光器的实验研究

本文采用双包层掺镱光纤作为增益介质,用单壁碳纳米管作为饱和吸收体,获得最高输出功率为336 mW的锁模脉冲激光.用飞秒激光诱导水击穿法直接在单模光纤上制备出D形区,通过在D形光纤上滴涂单壁碳纳米管溶液,成功制备出碳纳米管饱和吸收体,并对其饱和吸收特性进行测试,发现其调制深度为27％.利用该饱和吸收体作为锁模器件,制备出具有环形腔结构的锁模光纤激光器.当抽运功率为4W时,获得了脉宽为93.8 fs,中心波长为1083.8 nm,3 dB谱宽为8.6 nm,重复频率为5.59 MHz,平均功率为336 mW的飞秒脉冲激光输出.     

Tunable Q-switched ytterbium-doped fibre laser by using zinc oxide as saturable absorber

This paper demonstrates the use of a zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film in a 1-μm ring laser cavity as a saturable absorber to successfully generate Q-switching pulses. The tunability of the laser pulses is achieved by integrating a tunable bandpass filter (TBPF) in an ytterbium-doped laser cavity that results in 9.4 nm of tuning range, which wavelength is from 1040.70 nm to 1050.1 nm. The peak energy in the pulse which is 1.47 nJ was measured together with a minimum pulse width of 2.4 μs. In addition, the repetition rate increases from 25.77 to 45.94 kHz as the pump power level being increased from 103.1 to 175.1 mW. The results obtained in this experiment demonstrated consistent results and stable throughout the experiment. Therefore, ZnO thin film is considered as a good candidate in 1-μm pulsed laser applications.     

Mode locked Er-doped fiber laser with single-wall carbon nanotube saturable absorber

A mode locked Er-doped fiber laser based on a single-wall carbon nanotube saturable absorber is demonstrated. A high quality single-wall carbon nanotubes （SWCNTs） absorber film is fabricated by a polymer composite. The pulse duration is 488 fs with 9.6-nm spectral width at the center of 1564 nm. The repetition rate is 30.4 MHz. The maximum output power is 3 mW. And the single pulse energy is 0.1 nJ.     

Passively mode-locked fiber ring laser using semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We experimentally demonstrate a fiber laser passively mode-locked by a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) in a ring cavity. A pulse series with a temporal width of 1 ns is generated at a repetition rate of 12.3 MHz. With careful polarization adjustment, the pulse width decreases, the peak power increases and the spectral sidebands are formed in the optical spectrum. The reason of the phenomenon above has been analyzed. In addition, the characteristic of the pulse with different length of the Er³⁺ Doped Fiber (EDF) is studied and the results show that it is reabsorption that causes the laser to shift to longer wavelength direction when the EDF length increases.     

High-energy saturable absorber mode-locked fiber laser system

We demonstrate a mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser with a 1-microm InGaAs saturable absorber that produces 84-ps, 1-nJ transform-limited pulses. Measurements of the InGaAs multiple quantum well revealed a slow saturable absorber that is useful for passive mode locking. Optical fiber was added to extend the cavity and vary the repetition rate from 51 kHz to 5.4 MHz. The narrow spectral width of the laser output (<0.04 nm) permits amplification to 0.2 microJ/pulse with minimal pulse broadening. Pulse energies as large as 1.7 microJ can be achieved with pulse widths of <330 ps. Average powers of 0.5 W at megahertz repetition rates are demonstrated.     

Erbium-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by an InGaAs/InP multiple quantum well saturable absorber

We report on the behavior of an erbium-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by an InGaAs/InP multiple quantum well semiconductor saturable absorber. The fiber is moderately doped in erbium ions. The saturable absorber consists of 40 periods of InGaAs (8.5 nm)/InP (10 nm) grown on an InP substrate. The laser efficiency is nonlinear under Q-switch regime and unusual temporal pulse shapes with rising times lower than decay times are observed around threshold. Pulse duration is around the microsecond range. Simple arguments based on a rate-equations approach are proposed in order to explain our results. They are justified a posteriori via numerical integration of the equations. The variation of threshold level versus spectroscopic parameters has been determined and that makes a guideline for generalizing our discussion.