Recent theoretical work suggests that the conversion efficiency from laser to protons in laser irradiated thin foil experiments increases if the atomic mass of nonhydrogen atoms on the foil rear surface increases. Experiments were performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Jupiter Laser Facility to observe the effect of thin foils coated with erbium hydride on the conversion efficiency from laser to protons. Gold foils with and without the rear surface coated with ErH3 were irradiated using the ultrashort pulse, 40 TW Callisto laser. An argon-ion etching system was used to remove naturally occurring nanometer thick surface layer contaminants from the hydride. With the etcher, gold with ErH3 showed a 25% increase in the conversion efficiency to protons above 3.4 MeV relative to contaminants, where C+4 and H+ were the dominant ion species. No difference in the ion signal was observed without first cleaning the hydrides. Simulations using the hybrid PIC code, LSP, revealed that the increase due to erbium hydride versus contaminants is 37% for protons above 3 MeV.
2D layer-structured nanomaterials have attracted much attention owing to their excellent optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. In this study, a novel 2D zirconium tritelluride (ZrTe 3 ) nanosheet material is prepared. The nonlinear saturated absorption characteristics of the ZrTe 3 nanosheets are studied using the double-equilibrium detection method. The saturation intensity and modulation depth are 100.6 MW cm −2 and 3.3%, respectively. A saturable absorber (SA) based on ZrTe 3 is used in a harmonic passive mode-locking erbium-doped fiber laser for the first time. The results show that when the pump power is 50 mW, mode-locking with a fundamental frequency of 5.82 MHz is achieved. The pulse width, center wavelength, 3 dB bandwidth, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are 1.44 ps, 1563.7 nm, 2.31 nm, and 76 dB, respectively. With an increase in pump power, a high repetition rate of 483.1 MHz, corresponding to the 83-order harmonic mode-locked, is obtained at a pump power of 310 mW. The pulse width, 3 dB optical spectral width, and SNR are 1.302 ps, 3.14 nm, and 67 dB, respectively. This reveals that ZrTe 3 nanosheets are excellent photonic materials that can be used to generate high-repetition-rate pulse lasers and have great application potential in ultrafast photonics.
ZrTe3 Nanoparticles
In article number 2100237, Zhanqiang Hui, Dongdong Han, and co‐workers demonstrate a passive harmonic mode‐locking erbium‐doped fiber laser employing a ZrTe3 nanoparticle‐based saturable absorber. At a pump power of 310 mW, an ultrashort pulse with a repetition rate of 483.1 MHz (corresponding to 83 order harmonic mode locking) is obtained. It reveals that ZrTe3 nanoparticles are excellent photonic materials and have great application potential in ultrafast photonics.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.