Mixed Transition Metal Dichalcogenide as Saturable Absorber in Ytterbium, Praseodymium, and Erbium Fiber Laser

• Main Authors: Ahmad, Harith, Aidit, Siti Nabila, Mohanraj, J., Sivabalan, S., Thambiratnam, Kavintheran, Ooi, Shok Ing, Tiu, Zian Cheak
• Format: Article
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2018
• Subjects: QC Physics; TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/22665/; https://doi.org/10.1109/JQE.2018.2822181

In this paper, a Mo(1-x)WxS2 thin film saturable absorber (SA) is proposed and fabricated and its performance over a wavelength region of 1.0 to 1.5 μ {m} investigated. The few layer MoWS2 is obtained by hydrothermal exfoliation and fabricated into thin film with a host polymer. The SA is tested in a ring laser cavity with different gain media consisting of Ytterbium, Praseodymium, and Erbium doped fibers for Q-switching operation at 1.0, 1.3, and $1.56~ μ m. In all cases, the SA performs admirably with the mixed transition metal composition of the MoWS2 thin film allowing the optical properties of the SA to be altered by changing the composition ratio and the number of layers. The proposed SA has high potential as a new optical material to cater the needs of many optoelectronics application.