Microsecond Pulse Generation using Bismuth Salenide as Saturable Absorber in 1.5 μm Region

Abstract

A Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) was demonstrated utilizing Bismuth Salenide (Bi 2 Se 3) as a saturable absorber. The saturable absorber (SA) is fabricated by mixing directly the Bismuth Salenide (Bi 2 Se 3) into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aqueous solution to form a thin film. The SA is integrated into EDFL cavity to achieve a stable Q-switched at center wavelength of 1559.8 nm. The peak power is a steady increasing pattern from 2.52 mW to 3.21 mW as the pump power is increased from 86.1 mW to 116.6 mW. The highest pulse energy obtained was 36.9 nJ at the pump power of 116.6 mW.