AUTHOR=Zhang Min , Kang Liu , Ma Zhijian , Yan Peiguang , Hou Shaodong TITLE=Te Film as a Saturable Absorber for the Mid-Infrared Er3+-Doped ZBLAN Fiber Laser JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2022.943744 DOI=10.3389/fphy.2022.943744 ISSN=2296-424X ABSTRACT=

We demonstrate a Q-switched Er3+-doped ZBLAN fiber laser at 2.8 µm mid-infrared (mid-IR) region achieved by adopting Te as the saturable absorber mirror (SAM). The modulation depth and saturation intensity of the Te-SAM were measured to be ∼7.2% and 10.81 MW∕cm2, respectively. Stable Q-switched laser pulses with the maximum pulse energy of 3.05 µJ and the minimum pulse width of 0.457 µs at the launched pump power of 4.51 W were obtained. Maximum average output power of 357 mW with repetition rate of 116.98 kHz were achieved. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 52 dB, which is higher than that of most 2.8 µm mid-infrared Q-switched fiber lasers reported so far. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration from a Q-switched fiber laser at 2.8 µm based on a Te-SAM.