2.9-μm passively Q-switched fiber laser using Au-nanocages as saturable absorber

Qingru Li; Chen Wei; Hao Chi; Liqiang Zhou; Shurong Jiang; Han Zhang; Hua Huang; Yong Liu

doi:10.1117/12.2537674

19 November 2019 2.9-μm passively Q-switched fiber laser using Au-nanocages as saturable absorber

Qingru Li, Chen Wei, Hao Chi, Liqiang Zhou, Shurong Jiang, Han Zhang, Hua Huang, Yong Liu

Proceedings Volume 11181, High-Power Lasers and Applications X; 111810C (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2537674
Event: SPIE/COS Photonics Asia, 2019, Hangzhou, China

Abstract

Q-switched fiber lasers emitting at around 3 μm have been widely applied in various scientific and industrial fields, such as molecular spectroscopy, laser surgery, material processing, remote sensing, and mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum source generation. Au nanocages (Au-NCs) have attracted much attention recently due to their outstanding saturable absorption properties including broadband absorption, ultrafast optical response (a few picoseconds), and large third-order optical nonlinearity coefficient that caused by local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). We propose and demonstrate a tunable Er³⁺ doped ZBLAN fiber laser using Au-NCs as a Q-switcher for the first time. Nonlinear absorption of the Au-NCs was measured by a home-made Ho³⁺/Pr³⁺ co-doped mode-locked fiber laser at 2850 nm. The measured modulation depth, saturation intensity and non-saturation loss are 10.73%, 0.11 MW/cm² and 3.26%, respectively. The central wavelength of the Q-switched pulses could be tuned across 54.1 nm (from 2753.0 to 2807.1 nm). The Q-switched fiber laser delivers a maximum average power of 253.7 mW with corresponding pulse energy of 4.06 μJ and pulse width of 1.30 μs at repetition rate of 62.5 kHz. Our work shows the Au-NCs are promising saturable absorbers (SAs) for 3 μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) pulse generation.

Citation Download Citation

Qingru Li, Chen Wei, Hao Chi, Liqiang Zhou, Shurong Jiang, Han Zhang, Hua Huang, and Yong Liu "2.9-μm passively Q-switched fiber laser using Au-nanocages as saturable absorber", Proc. SPIE 11181, High-Power Lasers and Applications X, 111810C (19 November 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2537674

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