Chinese Optics Letters, 2015, 13 (8): 081401, Published Online: Sep. 14, 2018
Experimental investigation on Q -switching and Q -switched mode-locking operation in gold nanorods-based erbium-doped fiber laser
Abstract
We report on the generation of Q -switched and Q -switched mode-locked (QML) pulses in an erbium-doped fiber ring laser by using a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) -based gold nanorod (GNR) saturable absorber (SA). The PVA-based GNR SA has a modulation depth of ~ 4.8 % and a non-saturable loss of ~ 26.9 % at 1.5 μm. A Q -switched pulse train with a repetition rate varying from 18.70 to 39.85 kHz and a QML pulse train with an envelope repetition rate tuning from 20.31 to 31.50 kHz are obtained. Moreover, the lasing wavelengths of the Q -switched pulses can be flexibly tuned by introducing a narrow bandwidth, tunable filter into the laser cavity. The results demonstrate that the GNRs exhibit good optical performance and can find a wide range of applications in the field of laser technology.
Xude Wang, Nian Zhao, Hao Liu, Rui Tang, Yanfang Zhu, Jianping Xue, Zhichao Luo, Aiping Luo, Wencheng Xu. Experimental investigation on