Topological-Insulator Passively Q-Switched Double-Clad Fiber Laser at 2 $\mu$ m Wavelength

• Published in: IEEE journal of selected topics in quantum electronics 2014-09, Vol.20 (5), p.1-8
• Main Authors: Luo, Zhengqian, Liu, Chun, Huang, Yizhong, Wu, Duanduan, Wu, Jianyu, Xu, Huiying, Cai, Zhiping, Lin, Zhiqin, Sun, Liping, Weng, Jian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deposition; Fiber lasers; Modulation; Nanostructure; Optical fibers; Pulsed lasers; Titanium; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 1077-260X; 1558-4542
• DOI: 10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2305834

In this paper, Topological insulator (TI) Bi 2 Se 3 as a saturable absorber (SA) is exploited to Q-switch fiber lasers at 2 mu m wavelength for the first time. Few-layer TI:Bi 2 Se 3 nanosheets in CS-HAc solution are prepared by the liquid-phase exfoliation method, and the thin 2-D structure with the thickness of 3-5 layers is well characterized. The open-aperture Z-scan experiment shows that the few-layer TI:Bi 2 Se 3 has the saturable optical intensity of 41 MW/cm 2 at 800 nm and the modulation depth of 3.7%. The optical deposition technique is used to efficiently assemble the TI:Bi 2 Se 3 nanosheets in the solution onto a fiber ferrule, therefore constructing a fiber-compatible TI-based SA (FC-TISA). By further inserting the FC-TISA into a diode-pumped Tm 3 + -doped double-clad fiber laser (TM-DCFL), stable Q-switching operation at 1.98 mu m is successfully achieved with the shortest pulse width of 4.18 mu s and the tunable repetition rate from 8.4 to 26.8 kHz. In particular, the TM-DCFL can deliver large-energy Q-switched pulses with the pulse energy as high as 313 nJ (corresponding to average output power of 8.4 mW). Our results suggest that TI-based SA is suitable for pulsed laser operation in the eye-safe region of 2 mu m, and potentially develops as an ultra-broadband photonics device.