Elsevier

Optical Fiber Technology

Volume 61, January 2021, 102439
Optical Fiber Technology

8-Hydroxyquinolino cadmium chloride hydrate for generating nanosecond and picosecond pulses in erbium-doped fiber laser cavity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yofte.2020.102439Get rights and content

Highlights

  • 8-Hydroxyquinolino cadmium chloride hydrate (8-HQCdCl2H2O) as saturable absorber.

  • It has a modulation depth of 18%.

  • The Q-switched pulses have a duration of 726 ns and repetition rate of 150 kHz.

  • The mode-locked pulses have a pulse width of 1.83 ps and repetition rate of 1 MHz.

Abstract

In this paper, we experimentally proposed and demonstrated the application of thin-film saturable absorber (SA) based on 8-Hydroxyquinolino cadmium chloride hydrate (8-HQCdCl2H2O) material as both Q-switcher and mode-locker in the cavity of erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL). The 8-HQCdCl2H2O was embedded in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to fabricate the thin-film, which has then employed in the Q-switched and mode-locked EDFL cavity for passively generating nanosecond and picosecond pulses, respectively. At the maximum pump power of 167 mW, the Q-switched laser-produced pulse train with a pulse width of 726 ns, a repetition rate of 150 kHz, and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 72 dB. We also demonstrated the generation of mode-locked picosecond pulses by adding 200 m long single-mode fiber (SMF) into the ring EDFL cavity. The mode-locked laser-generated pulses have a pulse width of 1.83 ps, a repetition rate of 1 MHz, and the SNR of 77 dB for the electrical spectrum.

Introduction

Recently, many works have been reported on developing pulsed laser sources for various applications ranging from telecommunication to ultrafast science and materials processing [1], [2]. This type of optical lasers is generated by adopting appropriate laser pulsing techniques based on Q-switching and mode-locking approaches. These techniques can be classified into passive and active schemes. The passive scheme is realized by placing a saturable absorber (SA) device in the laser cavity and it has several advantages like cost-effective, simplicity in the design, flexible configuration, and compactness [3], [4]. The addition of external driven modulators makes active schemes more complex, resulting in high cost [5], [6].

To date, several types of SAs have reported for generating passive Q-switched and mode-locked pulses from a fiber laser cavity, such as semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) [7], graphene [8], [9], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [10], [11], and black phosphorous (BP) [12]. SESAMs have a fast recovery time to produce mode-locking pulses and precise control over the wavelength of absorption [13]. Graphene, CNT, and BP are the most attractive materials for optoelectronic applications due to their excellent conductive properties [14], [15], [16], [17]. Besides, they have a wide spectral response bandwidth [18], [19], [20] and low manufacturing cost, making them distinguished from other SAs [21], [22], while they have a fast recovery time as well [23], [24], [25]. Nonetheless, these SAs face disadvantages that made their popularity limited. As SESAMs required complex fabrication, restricted bandwidth tuning, and high cost [26], [27]. Graphene has a low optical saturation absorption per layer [28], and low modulation depth [29]. CNT has its response spectral range depending on the chirality and diameter of the nanoparticles [30]. BP also lacks in few properties such as low damage threshold [31], complex fabrication process [32], and it does not have ample purity and less-uniformity [33].

On the other hand, the latest studies aimed at manufacturing organic materials as a Q-switching or mode-locked to be used as a high-performance SA in various fiber laser cavities [34], [35], [36], [37]. It has advantages as the ultrafast nonlinear optical response [38], wide spectral tunability [39], low fabrication cost [40], good electrical conductivity [41] and thermal stability [42]. The presence of electrical properties in the organic materials motivated the technology field to utilized materials in the different electronic device applications, such as, photovoltaic in the solar panel [43], organic light-emitting diode (OLED) for manufacture the screens of television and mobile phones [44], [45], also field-effect transistor [46] that use as electronic elements for manufacturing radio-frequency identification (RFID) [47], [48]. Organic materials contribute in the pharmacological applications field where it treats anti-cancer [49], severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [50] and anti-HIV [51]. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrated Q-switched and mode-locked fiber lasers using 8-Hydroxyquinolino cadmium chloride hydrate (8-HQCdCl2H2O) as thin-film SA for generating picosecond and nanosecond pulses. cadmium chloride hydrate CdCl2H2O is elected to be apart from our thin-film, due to it is widely used in applications of electrical and electronic devices [52]. It has excellent solubility in the water and good conductivity [53], also it is used for electroplating and photocopying [54], [55]. Moreover, it has high thermal stability for the formation of the thin-film in the optoelectronic applications [56].

Section snippets

Fabrication and characterization

In this work, the 8-HQCdCl2H2O fabricated as a thin-film for high-performance SA. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) uses as a host chemical compound in the fabrication process of thin-film due to its excellent film-forming ability, mechanical flexibility as well as it has distinguished physical properties and chemical resistance [57]. The thin-film fabrication was initiated by adding 50 mg of 8-Hydroxyquinolino powder into 5 ml of methanol to make solution A, and 50 mg of CdCl2H2O powder into 2.5 ml

Results and discussion

The Q-switched laser operation in the EDFL was obtained within the pump power range of 101 mW–167 mW. It generates pulse train with a varying repetition rate and pulse width. The repetition rate increased from 123 kHz to 150 kHz and pulse width decreased from 976 ns to 726 ns when the pump power was raised from 101 mW to 167 mW as shown in Fig. 4(a). In the same magnitudes of laser pump power, as illustrated in Fig. 4(b), the pulse energy and output power increased from 3.6 nJ to 4.5 nJ and

Conclusion

We have successfully validated the generation of nanosecond and picosecond pulses in the EDFL cavity using the newly developed 8-HQCdCl2H2O film as SA. The 8-HQCdCl2H2O thin-film was obtained by drop and dry process using a mixed 8-HQCdCl2H2O PVA solution. At the maximum input pump power of 167 mW, the Q-switched laser produced pulses at a repetition rate of 150 kHz with pulse width of 726 ns. In extended EDFL cavity, the mode-locked pulses were also achieved. The central wavelength, repetition

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Airlangga University research grant (2020).

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