Femtosecond Tm-Ho co-doped fiber laser using a CoSb₃-skutteruditebased passive mode-locker

Pulsed lasers operating at mid-infrared (IR) are promising light sources useful for a variety of applications such as eye-safe light detection and ranging (LIDAR) [1], gas detection [2], and laser surgery [3]. Passive mode-locking technique is commonly used to obtain ultra-short pulses because it has advantages including a simple configuration, and low-cost implementation. In order to induce passive mode-locking within a fiberized cavity, the key element is a saturable absorber (SA). Until now, III-V compound semiconductors based SAs have been widely used [4]. For the past decades, massive investigations to search for alternative SA materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [5], graphene [6], topological insulator (TIs) [7], transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) [8], have been conducted all over the world.