Wide-band, passively Q-switched Yb- and Tm-doped fibre laser using WSSe saturable absorber

• Main Authors: Ahmad, Harith, Aidit, Siti Nabila, Ooi, Shok Ing, Tiu, Zian Cheak
• Format: Article
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2018
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QC Physics
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/22675/; https://doi.org/10.1080/09500340.2018.1489080
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

A wide-band, passively Q-switched fibre lasers based on ytterbium- and thulium-doped fibre gain medium are proposed and demonstrated. The lasers employ a transition metal dichalcogenide, tungsten sulphoselenide as a saturable absorber (SA) which is prepared by mechanical exfoliation technique. By integrating the SA in the laser cavities, self-starting Q-switched at 1038 and 1982 nm are obtained. The generated pulses exhibit a microsecond pulse duration with few kilohertz repetition rate. The proposed SA has high potential as a new material to cater to the needs of various scientific, industrial and biomedical applications.