Passively Mode-Locked Tm:YAG Ceramic Laser Based on Graphene

Author

Jie Ma ; Guoqiang Xie ; Jian Zhang ; Peng Yuan ; Dingyuan Tang ; Liejia Qian

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys. & Astron., Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ., Shanghai, China

Volume

21

Issue

1

fYear

2015

fDate

Jan.-Feb. 2015

Firstpage

50

Lastpage

55

Abstract

There is a growing interest in developing ultrafast laser sources around 2-μm wavelength range. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a diode-pumped passively mode-locked Tm:YAG ceramic laser using graphene as a mode locker. By transferring graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition onto Au-coated mirror as saturable absorber, continuous wave mode locking is successfully obtained in the Tm:YAG ceramic laser. The generated mode-locked pulses in 2-μm spectral region have a pulse width as short as 2.8 ps, with a maximum average output power of 158 mW and repetition rate of 98.7 MHz. The mode-locked mid-infrared pulses are very stable having a multitude of potential applications such as ultrafast molecule spectroscopy, mid-IR nonlinear frequency conversion, etc.

Keywords

ceramics; chemical vapour deposition; graphene; laser mirrors; laser mode locking; laser stability; optical pulse generation; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; solid lasers; thulium; Au; Au-coated mirror; C; YAG:Tm; chemical vapor deposition; continuous wave mode locking; diode-pumped passively mode-locked Tm:YAG ceramic laser; frequency 98.7 MHz; mode-locked mid-infrared pulse; mode-locked pulse generation; output power; power 158 mW; pulse width; repetition rate; saturable absorber; spectral region; time 2.8 ps; ultrafast laser sources; wavelength 2 mum; Ceramics; Graphene; Laser excitation; Laser mode locking; Optimized production technology; Pump lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Ceramic laser; graphene; mid-infrared (mid-IR); mode locking;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2361785

Filename

6919250