2D van der Waals materials for ultrafast pulsed fiber lasers: review and prospect

Abstract

2D van der Waals materials are crystals composed of atomic layers, which have atomic thickness scale layers and rich distinct properties, including ultrafast optical response, surface effects, light-mater interaction, small size effects, quantum effects and macro quantum tunnel effects. With the exploration of saturable absorption characteristic of 2D van der Waals materials, a series of potential applications of 2D van der Waals materials as high threshold, broadband and fast response saturable absorbers (SAs) in ultrafast photonics have been proposed and confirmed. Herein, the photoelectric characteristics, nonlinear characteristic measurement technique of 2D van der Waals materials and the preparation technology of SAs are systematically described. Furthermore, the ultrafast pulsed fiber lasers based on classical 2D van der Waals materials including graphene, transition metal chalcogenides, topological insulators and black phosphorus have been fully summarized and analyzed. On this basis, opportunities and directions in this field, as well as the research results of ultrafast pulsed fiber lasers based on the latest 2D van der Waals materials (such as PbO, FePSe3, graphdiyne, bismuthene, Ag2S and MXene etc), are reviewed and summarized.

Twisted van der Waals Quantum Materials: Fundamentals, Tunability, and Applications

“…This property, which refers to a material's decreasing absorption coefficient with increasing incident light intensity, has led to a series of proposed and confirmed applications in ultrafast photonics, encompassing roles as high-threshold, broad-spectrum, and rapidly responsive saturable absorbers (SAs). 514 Saturable absorbers are essential components in mode-locked lasers, a crucial technology in ultrafast optics. In addition, the control of light propagation at deeply subwavelength scales is crucial for integrated photonics.…”

Design of graphene-like nanowall arrays and their optical absorption properties

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Since graphene was discovered, 7 2D materials have attracted extensive attention and in-depth research due to their unique structures and excellent performances. However, this attention has mainly focused on the properties of fluorescence emission, [8][9][10] saturation absorption, [11][12][13][14] nonlinear optical response, [15][16][17][18][19][20] and horizontally placed monolayer film form. Due to their thin thickness, these materials absorb incident light very inefficiently, especially for longwave light near the forbidden band, which hinders their application in the nano-optoelectronic field.…”

Effect of external electric field on the electronic properties of the AlAs/SiC van der Waals heterostructure

“…1–3 Meanwhile, by combining two or several 2D layered materials, van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures can greatly extend the properties and application scopes of single materials. 4–10 As compared with traditional three-dimensional (3D) heterostructures, 2D vdW heterostructures have more advantages, for example, the clear and clean interface can reduce interface scattering caused by lattice mismatch. 6 In addition, 2D layered materials are flexible, which offers great possibilities for their applications in flexible electronics.…”

“…4–10 As compared with traditional three-dimensional (3D) heterostructures, 2D vdW heterostructures have more advantages, for example, the clear and clean interface can reduce interface scattering caused by lattice mismatch. 6 In addition, 2D layered materials are flexible, which offers great possibilities for their applications in flexible electronics. 7,8 Moreover, the stacking order or twist angle between the layers provides a new degree of freedom, which may induce a new quantum effect.…”