Q-Switched Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using Black Phosphorus as Saturable Absorber

Abstract

We demonstrate a Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) using a newly developed multi-layer black phosphorous (BP) saturable absorber (SA). The BP SA is prepared by mechanically exfoliating a BP crystal and sticking the acquired BP flakes onto a scotch tape. A small piece of the tape is then placed between two ferrules and incorporated in a YDFL cavity to achieve a stable Q-switched operation in a 1.0μm region. The laser has a pump threshold of 55.1 mW, a pulse repetition rate that is tunable from 8.2 to 32.9 kHz, and the narrowest pulse width of 10.8 μs. The highest pulse energy of 328 nJ is achieved at the pump power of 97.6mW. Our results show that multi-layer BP is a promising SA for Q-switching laser operation.

Recent Progress of Two-Dimensional Materials for Ultrafast Photonics

“…In 2016, Al-Masoodi et al demonstrated Q-switched operation in a BP-based YDFL, achieving a pulse energy of 328 nJ at the repetition rate of 32.9 kHz [ 293 ]. Then, Su et al obtained femtosecond pulses of 272 fs in a solid-state laser mode-locked by BP for the first time with the maximum average output power as high as 0.82 W [ 294 ].…”

Cadmium Selenide Polymer Microfiber Saturable Absorber for Q-Switched Fiber Laser Applications

“…These fiber lasers have been explored and reported in both erbium (Er) and ytterbium (Yb) gain media using various artificial or real types of saturable absorbers (SAs). [1,2] The artificial SA is normally generated by a nonlinear polarization rotation effect (NPR) and nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM), and it is necessary to utilize a nonlinear fiber property similar to saturable absorption, and it is difficult to optimize. [3,4] Dye color glass was the first real SA, which was then followed by the semiconductor SA mirror (SESAM).…”

Black Phosphorus Saturable Absorber for Pulse Generation Using Q-switched Teachnique

“…This work assures the simplicity to secure either the passive Q-switching or mode-locking pulse laser with pulse width down to 946 fs. Q-witched pulse laser for Ytterbium doped fiber laser (YDFL) is experimentally obtained as the gain medium using BPSA, along with the high pulse energy gained from the experiment, it is highlighted that the repetition rate suddenly decreases as the pump power is raised up in number before the Q-switched pulse operation becomes unstable [6]. A distinctive feature configuration of Q-switched EDFL with graphene based SA is tested.…”