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Tunable Q-switched fiber laser based on saturable edge-state absorption in few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂).


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Woodward, RI 
Kelleher, EJR 
Howe, RCT 

Abstract

We fabricate a few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) polymer composite saturable absorber by liquid-phase exfoliation, and use this to passively Q-switch an ytterbium-doped fiber laser, tunable from 1030 to 1070 nm. Self-starting Q-switching generates 2.88 μs pulses at 74 kHz repetition rate, with over 100 nJ pulse energy. We propose a mechanism, based on edge states within the bandgap, responsible for the wideband nonlinear optical absorption exhibited by our few-layer MoS₂ sample, despite operating at photon energies lower than the material bandgap.

Description

Keywords

Lasers, fiber, Lasers, Q-switched, Nanomaterials, Nonlinear optical materials

Journal Title

Opt Express

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1094-4087
1094-4087

Volume Title

22

Publisher

The Optical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G037221/1)
EJRK acknowledges support from the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), through a RAEng Fellowship, RCTH from EPSRC (EP/G037221/1), GH from a CSC Cambridge International Scholarship, and TH from the RAEng (Graphlex). The authors also acknowledge ThorLabs for access to their technical drawings.