Short-pulsed Q-switched fiber laser using graphene oxide quantum dots based as saturable absorber

P Zaca-Morán; Celia L Gomez; O Zaca Morán; J G Ortega-Mendoza; E S Pola-López

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20136

Short-pulsed Q-switched fiber laser using graphene oxide quantum dots based as saturable absorber

Heliyon. 2023 Sep 13;9(10):e20136. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20136. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

P Zaca-Morán¹, Celia L Gomez¹, O Zaca Morán², J G Ortega-Mendoza³, E S Pola-López⁴

Affiliations

¹ Instituto de Ciencias, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, CP 72050, Puebla, Mexico.
² Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología Aplicada, Ex-Hacienda de San Juan Molino, Km 1.5 de la Carretera Estatal Santa Inés Tecuexcomac-Tepetitla, Tepetitla, CP 90700, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
³ División de Posgrado, Universidad Politécnica de Tulancingo, Tulancingo de Bravo, Hidalgo, CP 43629, Mexico.
⁴ Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Maestría en Ciencias en Ingeniería Mecatrónica, CP 29050, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico.

Abstract

In this work, we report the experimental study of a Q-switched optical fiber laser based on graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) as saturable absorber (SA). GOQDs are fabricated by carbonization and exfoliation electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers. The results of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed bands caused by the CHs and C[bond, double bond]O groups associated with the GOQDs. The Raman spectrum showed the typical G and D bands of GOQDs. The size of the GOQDs, calculated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was 6 nm; additionally, by high resolution TEM (HRTEM), an interplanar distance of 0.19 nm corresponding to the (002) direction of the graphene oxide was calculated. The SA was achieved using the photodeposition technique of the GOQDs onto the core of a single-mode optical fiber. The nonlinear characterization (NLC) of the GOQDs was carried out using the P-scan technique with a high-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The obtained results showed a saturable absorption behavior with a value of $β = {- 1.178 x 10}^{- 6} (m / W)$ and a non-linear susceptibility of $I m (χ^{(3)}) \approx {- 1.573 x 10}^{- 7} (e s u)$ . The experimental results of the SA, based on GOQDs as a switching device in a fiber laser, showed a typical behavior of a Q-switched laser by generating a pulsed emission at a wavelength of 1599 nm, a frequency from 2 to 16 kHz, and a maximum average output power of 1.3 mW.

Keywords: Graphene oxide; Nonlinear characterization; Nonlinear susceptibility; Optical fibers; Quantum dots.