Mode-locked, 1.94-μm, all-fiberized laser using WS₂-based evanescent field interaction

We demonstrate the use of an all-fiberized, mode-locked 1.94 μm laser with a saturable absorption device based on a tungsten disulfide (WS₂)-deposited side-polished fiber. The WS₂ particles were prepared via liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) without centrifugation. A series of measurements including Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that the prepared particles had thick nanostructures of more than 5 layers. The prepared saturable absorption device used the evanescent field interaction mechanism between the oscillating beam and WS₂ particles and its modulation depth was measured to be ∼10.9% at a wavelength of 1925 nm. Incorporating the WS₂-based saturable absorption device into a thuliumholmium co-doped fiber ring cavity, stable mode-locked pulses with a temporal width of ∼1.3 ps at a repetition rate of 34.8 MHz were readily obtained at a wavelength of 1941 nm. The results of this experiment confirm that WS₂ can be used as an effective broadband saturable absorption material that is suitable to passively generate pulses at 2 μm wavelengths.