Sains Malaysiana 48(6)(2019): 1289–1294

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2019-4806-17

Generation of Microsecond Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Laser Pulses using Bismuth Telluride Thin Film as Saturable Absorber

(Generasi Denyutan Laser Gentian Mikrosaat Iterbium-Terdop yang Menggunakan Filem Nipis Telurida Bismut sebagai Penyerap Boleh Tepu)

MUHAMMAD AIZI MAT SALIM¹, MOHD ZULHAKIMI AB RAZAK²*, SAAIDAL RAZALLI AZZUHRI³, MOHD AFIQ ISMAIL⁴, FAUZAN AHMAD⁴ & SULAIMAN WADI HARUN⁵

¹Laser Center, Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (ISI-SIR), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia

²Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

³Department of Computer Systems and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, Malaysia

⁴Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

⁵Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

Received: 2 January 2019/Accepted: 28 February 2019

ABSTRACT

Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), a type of topological insulators, is currently in hot pursuit due to its unique physical properties. Therefore, this paper describes a simple Q-switched Ytterbium-doped fiber laser (YDFL) by using Bi2Te3 thin-film as saturable absorber. The few layers Bi2Te3 film was fabricated using optical deposition technique and subsequently, was used in an all-fiber, YDFL setup. As a result, a self-starting Q-switching pulses were first occurred when the laser pumping power reached 88.6 mW. As the pump power level increased, the observed pulses repetition rates had increased steadily from 17 to 29.63 kHz. Hence, this work demonstrated that Bi2Te3 thin-film can be used to successfully generate Q-switching pulses at 1-micron region and is well suited for many photonic applications operated at this wavelength region.

Keywords: Bi2Te3; optical deposition; Q-switched; saturable absorber; ytterbium fiber laser

ABSTRAK

Telurida Bismut (Bi2Te3), sejenis penebat bertopologi adalah sejenis bahan yang menjadi tumpuan kajian pada masa ini kerana keunikan sifat bahannya. Justeru, kertas ini menerangkan tentang kaedah mudah untuk menghasilkan denyutan laser rangkaian-Q berasaskan gentian optik iterbium (YDFL) dengan menggunakan filem nipis Bi2Te3 sebagai penyerap boleh tepu. Beberapa lapisan filem nipis Bi2Te3 telah dihasilkan dengan menggunakan kaedah pemendapan optik dan seterusnya digunakan dalam satu persediaan penghasilan denyutan laser YDFL dengan hanya menggunakan komponen gentian optik sahaja. Hasilnya, denyutan laser rangkaian-Q yang mula kelihatan apabila kuasa pengepam mencapai 88.6 mW. Kadar pengulangan denyutan laser didapati meningkat dengan berterusan daripada 17 kepada 29.63 kHz apabila tahap kuasa pengepam dinaikkan sedikit demi sedikit. Sebagai kesimpulan, hasil kajian ini telah menunjukkan bahawa filem nipis Bi2Te3 dengan jayanya telah dapat menjana denyutan laser rangkaian-Q pada rantau 1-mikron dan keputusan ini telah membuka peluang dan sesuai digunakan dalam banyak aplikasi fotonik yang beroperasi pada panjang gelombang ini.

Kata kunci: Bi2Te3; laser gentian optik iterbium; pemendapan optik; penyerap boleh tepu; rangkaian-Q

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*Corresponding author; email: zul.hakimi@ukm.edu.my