Black phosphorus mode-locked Er-doped ZBLAN fiber laser at 2.8 um wavelength

TL;DR

This paper reports the first demonstration of a black phosphorus mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber laser operating at 2.8 micrometers, showcasing black phosphorus as a promising material for mid-infrared ultrafast photonics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel black phosphorus saturable absorber mirror for mid-infrared lasers and demonstrates its effectiveness at 2.8 micrometers.

Findings

Achieved 613 mW average power at 2.8 um

Generated 42 ps pulses at 24 MHz repetition rate

First demonstration of black phosphorus mode-locking at this wavelength

Abstract

Mid-infrared saturable absorber mirror is successfully fabricated by transferring the mechanically exfoliated black phosphorus onto the gold-coated mirror. With the as-prepared black phosphorus saturable absorber mirror, a continuous-wave passively mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber laser is demonstrated at the wavelength of 2.8 um, which delivers a maximum average output power of 613 mW, a repetition rate of 24 MHz and a pulse duration of 42 ps. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to demonstrate black phosphorus mode-locked laser at 2.8 um wavelength. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of black phosphorus flake as a new two-dimensional material for application in mid-infrared ultrafast photonics.