Jinzhang Wang

Passively mode-locked fiber laser by a cell-type WS2 nanosheets saturable absorber.

A cell-type saturable absorber has been demonstrated by filling the single mode photonic crystal fiber (SMPCF) with tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets. The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and non-saturable loss of this SA are measured to be 3.53%, 159 MW/cm2 and 23.2%, respectively. Based on this SA, a passively mode-locked EDF laser has been achieved with pulse duration of 808 fs and repetition rate of 19.57 MHz, and signal-noise-ratio (SNR) of 60.5 dB. Our results demonstrate that the cell-type WS2 nanosheets SA can serve as a good candidate for short-pulse mode locker.

Efficient diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd : YAG/BaWO4 intracavity Raman laser

Barium tungstate (BaWO4) is employed to achieve efficient stimulated Raman scattering conversion in a compact diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With an incident pump power of 9.2 W, 1.56 W of 1181 nm first-Stokes average output power was generated at a pulse repetition rate of 20 kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 16.9%.

Pulse dynamics in carbon nanotube mode-locked fiber lasers near zero cavity dispersion

We numerically and experimentally analyze the output characteristics and pulse dynamics of carbon nanotube mode-locked fiber lasers near zero cavity dispersion (from 0.02 to ~-0.02 ps(2)). We focus on such near zero dispersion cavities to reveal the dispersion related transition between different mode-locking regimes (such as soliton-like, stretched-pulse and self-similar regimes). Using our proposed model, we develop a nanotube-mode-locked fiber laser setup generating ~97 fs pulse which operates in the stretched-pulse regime. The corresponding experimental results and pulse dynamics are in good agreement with the numerical results. Also, the experimental results from soliton-like and self-similar regimes exhibit the same trends with simulations. Our study will aid design of different mode-locking regimes based on other new saturable absorber materials to achieve ultra-short pulse duration.

152 fs nanotube-mode-locked thulium-doped all-fiber laser

Ultrafast fiber lasers with broad bandwidth and short pulse duration have a variety of applications, such as ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy and supercontinuum generation. We report a simple and compact all-fiber thulium-doped femtosecond laser mode-locked by carbon nanotubes. The oscillator operates in slightly normal cavity dispersion at 0.055 ps2, and delivers 152 fs pulses with 52.8 nm bandwidth and 0.19 nJ pulse energy. This is the shortest pulse duration and the widest spectral width demonstrated from Tm-doped all-fiber lasers based on 1 or 2 dimensional nanomaterials, underscoring their growing potential as versatile saturable absorber materials.

Q-Switched Fiber Laser Using a Fiber-Tip-Integrated TI Saturable Absorption Mirror

A wideband-tunable Q-switched fiber laser with a high-reflective topological insulator saturable absorber mirror (TISAM) was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed TISAM is composed of Sb2Te3 and gold films deposited over the fiber tip, and it has the advantage of compact size, easy integration over fiber, good stability, and mass production ability. The modulation depth, saturable intensity, and nonsaturable loss of the TISAM at 1550 nm are experimentally tested to be 6.2%, 143 MW/cm2, and 4.2%, respectively. By using such TISAM, we obtain laser pulses of ~400 ns in pulse width and kHz in repetition rates over the wavelength range from 1530 to 1570 nm. The experimental results indicate that the Sb2Te3 based TISAM have good potentials for Q-switched fiber lasers.

Magnetron-sputtering deposited WTe 2 for an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser

Ultrafast pulse generation was demonstrated in a thulium-doped fiber laser mode-locked by magnetron-sputtering deposited WTe2 with a modulation depth, a nonsaturable loss, and a saturable intensity of 31%, 34.3%, and 7.6  MW/cm2, respectively. Stable soliton pulses could be obtained at a 1915.5 nm central wavelength with a pulse duration of 1.25 ps, an average output power of 39.9 mW, and a signal-to-noise ratio of 95 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first demonstration of WTe2-based saturable absorbers in fiber lasers at a 2 μm regime.

Large-area highly crystalline WSe2 atomic layers for ultrafast pulsed lasers

Large-area and highly crystalline transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) films possess superior saturable absorption compared to the TMDs nanosheet counterparts, which make them more suitable as excellent saturable absorbers (SA) for ultrafast laser technology. Thus far, the nonlinear optical properties of large-scale WSe2 and its applications in ultrafast photonics have not yet been fully investigated. In this work, the saturable absorption of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown WSe2 films with large-scale and high quality are studied and the use of WSe2 films as a broadband SA for passively mode-locked fiber lasers at both 1.5 and 2 μm ranges is demonstrated. To enhance the light-material interaction, large-area WSe2 film is tightly transferred onto the side wall of a microfiber to form a hybrid structure, which realizes strong evanescent wave interaction between light and WSe2 film. The integrated microfiber-WSe2 device shows a large modulation depth of 54.5%. Using the large-area WSe2 as a mode-locker, stable soliton mode-locked pulse generation is achieved and the pulse durations of 477 fs (at 1.5 μm) and 1.18 ps (at 2.0 μm) are demonstrated, which suggests that the large-area and highly crystalline WSe2 films afford an excellent broadband SA for ultrafast photonic applications.

Large-area and highly crystalline MoSe2 for optical modulator

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been successfully used as broadband optical modulator materials for pulsed fiber laser systems. However, the nonlinear optical absorptions of exfoliated TMDs are strongly limited by their nanoflakes morphology with uncontrollable lateral size and thickness. In this work, we provide an effective method to fully explore the nonlinear optical properties of MoSe2. Large-area and high quality lattice MoSe2 grown by chemical vapor deposition method was adopted as an optical modulator for the first time. The large-area MoSe2 shows excellent nonlinear optical absorption with a large modulation depth of 21.7% and small saturable intensity of 9.4 MW cm-2. After incorporating the MoSe2 optical modulator into fiber laser cavity as a saturable absorber, a highly stable Q-switching operation with single pulse energy of 224 nJ is achieved. The large-area MoSe2 possessing superior nonlinear optical properties compared to exfoliated nanoflakes affords possibility for the larger-area two-dimensional materials family as high performance optical devices.

Two-dimensional layered materials and Van der Waals heterostructures for ultrafast photonics (invited)

We report on a type of two-dimensional layered materials based Van der Waals heterostructures (VdWHs) by vertical stacking different materials in turns on the target substrate. The VdWHs are used as remarkable saturable absorbers (SAs) in experiments. Passive mode-locking and Q-switching operation could be obtained by embedding our VdWHs into an Erbium-doped fiber laser cavity. The results demonstrate that different functional devices could be engineered by using VdWHs to obtain desired properties in ultrafast photonics applications.

256 fs, 2 nJ soliton pulse generation from MoS2 mode-locked fiber laser

We demonstrate an Er-doped fiber laser (EDFL) mode-locked by a MoS2 saturable absorber (SA), delivering a 256 fs, 2 nJ soliton pulse at 1563.4 nm. The nonlinear property of the SA prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition (MSD) is measured with a modulation depth (MD) of ~19.48% and a saturable intensity of 4.14 MW/cm2. To the best of our knowledge, the generated soliton pulse has the highest pulse energy of 2 nJ among the reported mode-locked EDFLs based on transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Our results indicate that MSD-grown SAs could offer an exciting platform for high pulse energy and ultrashort pulse generation.