1.8 µm passively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Abstract
This work demonstrates a simple and reliable passively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser capable of generating an output with a peak wavelength at 1.8 µm. Lasing is realized from the shorter wavelength region of a thulium-doped silica fiber gain medium by suppressing lasing at longer wavelengths in combination with a tunable bandpass filter. The laser is modulated by a single-walled carbon nanotube film saturable absorber. The generated Q-switched laser is capable of achieving a high repetition rate of 67.9 kHz and a narrow pulse width of 1.2 µs. As most work on the 1.6–1.8 µm waveband focuses on continuous-wave and mode-locked lasers, to the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a passively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser operating at 1.8 µm with an all-silica fiber setup. The demonstrated laser has potential for various applications including biomedical surgery and polymer-based welding applications. © 2019
Keywords
Thulium, Q-switched, 1.8 µm, Fiber laser
Divisions
PHYSICS,photonics
Funders
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia for funding this research under the grant LRGS (2015) / NGOD / UM / KPT and GA 010 – 2014 (ULUNG),University of Malaya for funding this research under the grant RU 013-2018 and HiCoE Phase II Funding
Publication Title
Optics & Laser Technology
Volume
120
Publisher
Elsevier