We fabricate ultrasmall phosphorene quantum dots (PQDs) with an average size of 2.6 ± 0.9 nm using a liquid exfoliation method involving ultrasound probe sonication followed by bath sonication. By coupling the as-prepared PQDs with microfiber evanescent light field, the PQD-based saturable absorber (SA) device exhibits ultrafast nonlinear saturable absorption property, with an optical modulation depth of 8.1% at the telecommunication band. With the integration of the all-fiber PQD-based SA, a continuous-wave passively mode-locked erbium-doped (Er-doped) laser cavity delivers stable, self-starting pulses with a pulse duration of 0.88 ps and at the cavity repetition rate of 5.47 MHz. Our results contribute to the growing body of work studying the nonlinear optical properties of ultrasmall PQDs that present new opportunities of this two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial for future ultrafast photonic technologies.

Dual-comb spectroscopy utilizes two sets of comb lines with slightly different comb-tooth-spacings, and optical spectral information is acquired by measuring the radio-frequency beat notes between the sets of comb lines. It holds the promise as a real-time, high-resolution analytical spectroscopy tool for a range of applications. However, the stringent requirement on the coherence between comb lines from two separate lasers and the sophisticated control system to achieve that have confined the technology to the top metrology laboratories. By replacing control electronics with an all-optical dualcomb lasing scheme, a simplified dual-comb spectroscopy scheme is demonstrated using just one dual-wavelength, passively mode-locked fiber laser.Dual-comb pulses with a repetition-frequency difference determined by the intracavity dispersion are shown to be sufficiently stable against common-mode cavity drifts and noises. As sufficiently low relative linewidth is maintained between two sets of comb lines, capability to resolve RF beat notes between comb teeth and picometer-wide optical spectral features is demonstrated using a simple data acquisition and processing system in an all-fiber setup. Possibility to use energy-efficient, free-running fiber lasers with a small comb-toothspacing could enable the realization of low-cost dual-comb spectroscopy systems affordable to more applications.

We demonstrate a ytterbium (Yb) and an erbium (Er)-doped fiber laser Q-switched by a solution processed, optically uniform, few-layer tungsten disulfide saturable absorber (WS2-SA). Nonlinear optical absorption of the WS2-SA in the sub-bandgap region, attributed to the edge-induced states, is characterized by 3.1% and 4.9% modulation depths with 1.38 and 3.83 MW/cm2 saturation intensities at 1030 and 1558 nm, respectively. By integrating the optically uniform WS2-SA in the Yb- and Er-doped laser cavities, we obtain self-starting Q-switched pulses with microsecond duration and kilohertz repetition rates at 1030 and 1558 nm. Our work demonstrates broadband sub-bandgap saturable absorption of a single, solution processed WS2-SA, providing new potential efficacy for WS2 in ultrafast photonic applications.

Structural phase transformation from multiwalled carbon nanotubes to nanocrystalline diamond by hydrogen plasma post-treatment was carried out. Ultrahigh equivalent diamond nucleation density above 10 11 nuclei/cm 2 was easily obtained. The diamond formation and growth mechanism was proposed to be the consequence of the formation of sp 3 bonded amorphous carbon clusters. The hydrogen chemisorption on curved graphite network and the energy deposited on the carbon nanotubes by continuous impingement of activated molecular or atomic hydrogen are responsible for the formation of amorphous carbon matrix. Diamond nucleates and grows in the way similar to that of diamond chemical vapor deposition processes on amorphous carbon films.

We click an antimicrobial peptide onto a silicon substrate to protect it from enzymolysis using a polySBMA spacer.