Q-switching and mode-locking pulse generation with graphene oxide paper-based saturable absorber

• Main Authors: Sulaiman Wadi Harun, Muhamad Burhan Shah Sabran, Salam Mahdi Azooz, Ahmad Zarif Zulkifli, Mohd Afiq Ismail, Harith Ahmad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2015-06-01
• Series: The Journal of Engineering
• Subjects: Q-switching; laser mode locking; optical pulse generation; graphene; paper; optical saturable absorption; erbium; fibre lasers; photonic crystals; holey fibres; Bragg gratings; optical filters; optical tuning; laser cavity resonators; optical pumping; optical solitons; mode-locking pulse generation; erbium-doped fibre lasers; nonconductive graphene oxide paper; saturable absorber; self-starting Q-switched operation; gain medium; pulse repetition rate; pump power; photonics crystal fibre; tunable Bragg filter; cavity; soliton pulse train; threshold pump power; low damage threshold; wavelength 1534.4 nm to 1480 nm; distance 0.8 m to 1.6 m; frequency 14.3 kHz to 31.5 kHz; power 22 mW to 50.5 mW; energy 2.8 nJ; CO
• Online Access: http://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/joe.2014.0321

Q-switched and mode-locked erbium-doped fibre lasers (EDFLs) are demonstrated by using non-conductive graphene oxide (GO) paper as a saturable absorber (SA). A stable and self-starting Q-switched operation was achieved at 1534.4 nm by using a 0.8 m long erbium-doped fibre (EDF) as a gain medium. The pulse repetition rate changed from 14.3 to 31.5 kHz, whereas the corresponding pulse width decreased from 32.8 to 13.8 µs as the pump power increased from 22 to 50.5 mW. A narrow spacing dual-wavelength Q-switched EDFL could also be realised by including a photonics crystal fibre and a tunable Bragg filter in the setup. It can operate at a maximum repetition rate of 31 kHz, with a pulse duration of 7.04 µs and pulse energy of 2.8 nJ. Another GOSA was used to realise mode-locked EDFL in a different cavity consisting of a 1.6 m long EDF in conjunction with 1480 nm pumping. The laser generated a soliton pulse train with a repetition rate of 15.62 MHz and pulse width of 870 fs. It is observed that the proposed fibre lasers have a low pulsing threshold pump power as well as a low damage threshold.