Mechanical exfoliation of indium tin oxide as saturable absorber for Q-switched Ytterbium-doped and Erbium-doped fiber lasers

• Published in: Optics communications Vol. 475; p. 126217
• Main Authors: Nizamani, B., Jafry, A.A.A., Salam, Sameer, Najm, Mustafa Mohammed, Khudus, M.I.M. Abdul, Hanafi, E., Harun, S.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.11.2020
• Subjects: Erbium-doped fiber laser; Indium tin oxide; Mechanical exfoliation; Ytterbium-doped fiber laser; Ytterbium-doped fiber laser; Mechanical exfoliation; Indium tin oxide; Erbium-doped fiber laser
• ISSN: 0030-4018; 1873-0310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2020.126217

This work reports mechanically exfoliated indium tin oxide (ITO) as saturable absorber (SA) for Q-switched operation in fiber lasers. The ITO is mechanically exfoliated from 99.99% pure In2O3/SnO2. As ITO has a broad operational wavelength from visible to infrared, indium tin oxide saturable absorber (ITO-SA) is incorporated into ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) and erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity for Q-switched operation. The Q-switched spectrum was observed to be centered at 1038.25 nm for ytterbium-doped fiber and 1557.8 nm for erbium doped fiber. The ITO-SA has a linear absorption of 2.25 dB and 2.5 dB at 1μm and 1.5μm respectively. A narrow pulse width was observed in the EDFL operating at 0.95 μs. For the first time, ITO-SA is incorporated to YDFL cavity. •Mechanically exfoliated indium tin oxide (ITO) as saturable absorber for Q-switching.•Q-switched laser was achieved in both YDFL and EDFL cavities.•For the first time, ITO-SA is incorporated to YDFL cavity.•A 0.95 μs pulse width and 14.26 nJ pulse energy was achieved with EDFL.•A 1.8 μs pulse width and 4.55 nJ pulse energy was achieved with YDFL.