Two-dimensional materials-decorated microfiber devices for pulse generation and shaping in fiber lasers

Two-dimensional（2D） materials have been regarded as a promising nonlinear optical medium for fabricating versatile optical and optoelectronic devices. Among the various photonic applications, the employment of 2D materials as nonlinear optical devices such as saturable absorbers for ultrashort pulse generation and shaping in ultrafast lasers is one of the most striking aspects in recent years. In this paper, we review the recent progress of 2D materials based pulse generation and soliton shaping in ultrafast fiber lasers, and particularly in the context of 2D materials-decorated microfiber photonic devices. The fabrication of 2D materials-decorated microfiber photonic devices, high performance mode-locked pulse generation, and the nonlinear soliton dynamics based on pulse shaping method are discussed. Finally, the challenges and the perspective of the 2D materials-based photonic devices as well as their applications are also discussed.

Graphene-decorated microfiber knot as a broadband resonator for ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse fiber lasers

Searching for an ultrahigh-repetition-rate pulse on the order of hundreds of gigahertz(GHz) is still a challenging task in the ultrafast laser community. Recently, high-quality silicon/silica-based resonators were exploited to generate a high-repetition-rate pulse based on the filter-driven four-wave mixing effect in fiber lasers. However,despite their great performance, the silicon/silica-based resonators still have some drawbacks, such as single waveband operation and low coupling efficiency between the fiber and resonators. To overcome these drawbacks,herein we proposed an all-fiber broadband resonator fabricated by depositing the graphene onto a microfiber knot. As a proof-of-concept experiment, the graphene-deposited broadband microfiber knot resonator(MKR)was applied to Er-and Yb-doped fiber lasers operating at two different wavebands, respectively, to efficiently generate hundreds-of-GHz-repetition-rate pulses. Such a graphene-deposited broadband MKR could open some new applications in ultrafast laser technology, broadband optical frequency comb generation, and other related fields of photonics.

“Periodic”soliton explosions in a dual-wavelength mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser

We report the"periodic"soliton explosions induced by intracavity soliton collisions in a dual-wavelength modelocked Yb-doped fiber laser.Owing to the different group velocities of the two wavelengths,the mode-locked solitons centered at different wavelengths would periodically collide with each other.By using the dispersive Fourier transformation technique,it was found that each collision would induce soliton explosions,but none of them would be identical.Therefore,this phenomenon was termed as"periodic"soliton explosions.In addition,the dissipative rogue waves were detected in the dual-wavelength mode-locked state.The experimental results would be fruitful to the communities interested in soliton dynamics and dual-comb lasers.

1.7-μm dissipative soliton Tm-doped fiber laser

We report on the dissipative soliton generation in a 1.7-μm net-normal dispersion Tm-doped fiber laser by nonlinear polarization rotation technique. An intra-cavity bandpass filter was employed to suppress the longwavelength emission, while the cavity dispersion was compensated by a segment of ultrahigh numerical aperture(UHNA4) fiber. The dissipative soliton with a central wavelength of 1746 nm was obtained, covering a spectral range from 1737 nm to 1754 nm. The de-chirped duration and energy of the dissipative soliton were 370 fs and 0.2 nJ, respectively. In addition, the dynamics of multiple dissipative solitons were also investigated. Through optimization of the cavity dispersion, the 50 nm broadband dissipative soliton with de-chirped pulse duration of 230 fs could be achieved. The development of dissipative soliton seed laser represents the first step in achieving the chirped pulse amplification system at the 1.7-μm wave band, which would find potential applications in fields such as biomedical imaging and material processing.

Few-layer MoS2-deposited microfiber as highly nonlinear photonic device for pulse shaping in a fiber laser [Invited]

Two-dimensional（2D） materials have emerged as attractive mediums for fabricating versatile optoelectronic devices. Recently, few-layer molybdenum disulfide（MoS2）, as a shining 2D material, has been discovered to possess both the saturable absorption effect and large nonlinear refractive index. Herein, taking advantage of the unique nonlinear optical properties of MoS2, we fabricated a highly nonlinear saturable absorption photonic device by depositing the few-layer MoS2 onto the microfiber. With the proposed MoS2 photonic device, apart from the conventional soliton patterns, the mode-locked pulses could be shaped into some new soliton patterns, namely,multiple soliton molecules, localized chaotic multipulses, and double-scale soliton clusters. Our findings indicate that the few-layer MoS2-deposited microfiber could operate as a promising highlynonlinear photonic device for the related nonlinear optics applications.