2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked fiber laser using TiCN as saturable absorber

Ye Shanshan; Huang Haibo; Chen Songyuan; Tao Junzhe; Wen Yuxuan; Gao Weiqing

doi:10.12086/oee.2023.230107

Article navigation > Opto-Electronic Engineering > 2023 Vol. 50 > No. 7 > 230107

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Ye S S, Huang H B, Chen S Y, et al. 2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked fiber laser using TiCN as saturable absorber[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2023, 50(7): 230107. doi: 10.12086/oee.2023.230107

Citation:

Ye S S, Huang H B, Chen S Y, et al. 2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked fiber laser using TiCN as saturable absorber[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2023, 50(7): 230107. doi: 10.12086/oee.2023.230107

2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked fiber laser using TiCN as saturable absorber

Department of Optical Engineering, School of Physics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230601, China

Fund Project: Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFB2903102)，Anhui Provincial Key Research and Development Plan (202104a07020010)，National Natural Science Foundation of China (61875052, 62105087, 62105088, 61905059, 12204141)， Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (2108085QF282, 1908085QF273)，and National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (202110359079)

More Information

^*Corresponding author: gaoweiqing@hfut.edu.cn

Received Date 09 May 2023

Revised Date 30 July 2023

Accepted Date 07 August 2023

Published Date 20 August 2023

Abstract

Abstract

A 2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked erbium-doped fluoride fiber laser based on material saturable absorption is reported in this paper. By depositing TiCN particles directly onto the cavity mirror as the saturable absorber and using the vertical cleaved end of the fluoride fiber as an output coupler, the 2.8 μm pulsed fiber lasing with a low laser threshold and a compact cavity structure is realized. When the pump power reaches 330 mW, the Q-switched mode-locked pulses begin to appear. With the increase of pump power, the repetition frequency of Q-switched pulse envelope increases from 14.34 to 32.57 kHz, and the pulse width decreases from 10.51 to 5.40 μs. Under the pump power of 650 mW, the maximum average output power of 25.83 mW is obtained, and the slope efficiency is about 7.2%.
- mid-infrared laser /
- erbium-doped fluoride fiber /
- saturable absorber /
- passively Q-switched mode-locked

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References

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Overview

Overview

Mid-infrared laser around 3 μm waveband is widely used in biomedicine, material processing, spectroscopy and atmospheric remote sensing because its wavelength covers the absorption peaks of water molecules and many important gas molecules in the atmosphere. In order to construct compact fiber lasers, passive methods using saturable absorbers play an important role in the generation of mid-infrared pulsed lasing. Compared with traditional saturable absorbers, two-dimensional materials exhibit excellent optical properties, including high optical nonlinearity, ultrafast carrier dynamics and broadband saturation absorption, so the application of two-dimensional materials as saturable absorbers in mid-infrared pulsed lasers has attracted more and more attention. Titanium carbonitride (TiCN) belongs to titanium matrix composite material, which has high melting point, good thermal stability, good chemical stability and excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. Recently, TiCN has been demonstrated to function as a saturable absorber in the 2 μm waveband to achieve high-order harmonic mode-locking.

In this paper, a 2.8 μm passively Q-switched mode-locked erbium-doped fluoride fiber laser based on material saturable absorption is reported. By depositing TiCN particles directly onto the cavity mirror as the saturable absorber and using the vertical cleaved end of the fluoride fiber as an output coupler, the 2.8 μm pulsed fiber laser with a low laser threshold and a compact cavity structure is realized. When the pump power reaches 330 mW, the Q-switched mode-locked pulses begin to appear. With the continuous increase of pump power, the repetition frequency of the Q-switched mode-locked pulse envelope keeps monotonically increasing, while the pulse width shows a monotonically decreasing trend. Specifically, when the pump power increases from 330 mW to 500 mW, the repetition frequency of the Q-switched mode-locked pulse envelope increases from 14.34 kHz to 32.57 kHz, and the corresponding pulse width decreases from 10.51 μs to 5.40 μs. The mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse envelope appears stably and the repetition frequency does not show any change with the increase of pump power. The fundamental frequency of the mode-locked pulses is 28.6 MHz, and the central wavelength of the spectrum is 2778 nm. When the pump power is 650 mW, the maximum average output power of the laser reaches 25.83 mW, and the corresponding slope efficiency is about 7.2%. The results show that TiCN can be used as a stable saturable absorbent material for generating laser pulses in the mid-infrared waveband. It can be solved by using rare-earth ion doped fiber with higher gain and further optimizing the preparation process and deposition method of saturable absorber, which is expected to achieve the better mode-locked pulse characteristics.