Soliton mode-locked fiber laser based on topological insulator Bi_2Te_3 nanosheets at 2  μm

Abstract

We reported diverse soliton operations in a thulium/holmium-doped fiber laser by taking advantage of a tapered fiber-based topological insulator (TI) Bi 2 Te 3 saturable absorber (SA). The SA had a nonsaturable loss of ∼53.5% and a modulation depth of 9.8%. Stable fundamentally mode-locked solitons at 1909.5 nm with distinct Kelly sidebands on the output spectrum, a pulse repetition rate of 21.5 MHz, and a measured pulse width of 1.26 ps were observed in the work. By increasing the pump power, both bunched solitons with soliton number up to 15 and harmonically mode-locked solitons with harmonic order up to 10 were obtained. To our knowledge, this is the first report of both bunched solitons and harmonically mode-locked solitons in a fiber laser at 2 μm region incorporated with TIs.

Optoelectronic devices, plasmonics, and photonics with topological insulators

“…129 At higher values of the pump power, both bunched solitons with soliton number up to 15 and harmonically mode-locked solitons with harmonic order up to 10 were achieved. 141 The development of disruptive technologies based on the novel topological phases of matter, especially in the field of optoelectronics and photonics, is a great challenge. However, current prototypes of THz photodetectors, photonic devices, and thermoplasmonic applications based on TIs have solid possibilities to overcome the up scaling issues.…”

0.5-GHz Repetition Rate Fundamentally Tm-Doped Mode-Locked Fiber Laser

“…In the ∼1.5 µm region, various Er-or Er/Yb-doped fiber lasers with fundamental repetition rates up to gigahertz level have been demonstrated [11]- [14]. In the past decade, rapid progress has been made with Tm-doped fiber laser operating at 2 µm [15]- [17]. Fewer studies, however, have been reported on passively mode-locked Tm-doped fiber lasers at high fundamental repetition rates.…”

High-efficiency ～2 μm laser in a single-mode Tm-doped lead germanate composite fiber

“…When core is pumped by a 1590 nm Yb/Er fiber laser, a maximum laser output of 313 mW is achieved at a 670 mW pump power, and the corresponding slope efficiency is ∼52.8%. Moreover, by using a 2 cmlong lead germanate fiber as the gain medium, a 33 mW 1942 nm Tm laser is also demonstrated.OCIS codes: 160.5690, 160.2290, 140.3510. doi: 10.3788/COL201614.081601.Fiber lasers operating in the 2 μm eye-safe region have been studied extensively owing to their potential applications, including environmental sensing, laser radar, space communication, and efficient mid-infrared (IR) light generation [1][2][3][4][5] . In the past decade, rapid progress has been made with the development of ∼2 μm Tm-doped fiber lasers.…”

“…Fiber lasers operating in the 2 μm eye-safe region have been studied extensively owing to their potential applications, including environmental sensing, laser radar, space communication, and efficient mid-infrared (IR) light generation [1][2][3][4][5] . In the past decade, rapid progress has been made with the development of ∼2 μm Tm-doped fiber lasers.…”

“…The 3.1 × 10 20 -ions∕cm 3 Tm-doped core glass and the inner-cladding glass were prepared by a conventional quenching method. The wellmixed 300 g batches were first heated in a vacuum drying oven at 200°C for 48 h to remove the crystal water content in the raw materials, and then they were melted in a platinum crucible at ∼1200°C for 3 h. After 3 h, dried O 2 was bubbled into the glass melt for 1 h to eliminate the OH − groups.…”